Henry P. Glass – Kling Studios
See also: Chairs • Lamps • Radios
Glass Biography • Elly & Henry Documentary
Click on image to view larger version | Partition Walls Numbered #24 in the set of tissues, the Kling Studios – Partition Walls for the 13 photo retouchers’ offices on the first floor shows this building’s difference in light in the corridor unlike the windowless hallways of traditional office buildings. As outside sunlight reflected around the partial walls from a shiny tile floor and light-colored ceiling and glowing through the office partition, the Kling hallways may have been brighter than workers were used to. These freestanding partitions anticipated his Fleetwood office cubicles marketed ten years later though the latter product didn’t consist of translucent panels. The original 48 Kling Studios design drawings were kept in the Glass files and in 2001 sold to the ArchiTech Gallery collection. Digital copies are kept in the Art Institute of Chicago. Henry P. Glass Designer A D I |
Click on image to view larger version | Typical Salesman’s Office Marked #15 of the set of 48, this drawing shows the plan and elevations of drawing #14 [perspective seen in previous exhibition] Typical Salesman’s Office. The corrugated glass in the front wall borrows sunlight from the west-facing window wall across the second floor corridor. The corrugated glass segments on the inside walls frame the cork-board paneling whose decor depends on pinned artwork [probably photographs made in the adjacent studio below]. The original 48 Kling Studios design drawings were kept in the Glass files and in 2001 sold to the ArchiTech Gallery collection. Digital copies are kept in the Art Institute of Chicago. Henry P. Glass Designer A D I |
Click on image to view larger version | Rack for Drawings Consisting of black painted steel rods he used for his trademark “Hairpin” chairs, drawing #27 shows the drawings rack for all artists’ offices. It also displays his first use of the business “title block” stamp since he set up shop in tower offices at the American Furniture Mart at 666 N. Lake Shore Drive. Most likely giving him the finances to move, the Kling Studios design was begun at his home at 160 Burton Place and became the first job [101] at his new full-floor offices in early 1946. The original 48 Kling Studios design drawings were kept in the Glass files and in 2001 sold to the ArchiTech Gallery collection. Digital copies are kept in the Art Institute of Chicago. Henry P. Glass Designer A D I |
Click on image to view larger version | File Cabinet Enclosure This is drawing 31 in the Kling set and shows one of the design’s earmarking colors. In addition to the regular birch cabinetry, red Masonite sliding doors hide shelves to the right of standard Diebold file drawers. At nearly 7 ½ feet long x 3 feet 4 ½ inches, it’s too big for most offices and his use of exclamation points both announce he was still selling the idea to the Kling clients and indicating that its dimensions might have to be altered. The original 48 Kling Studios design drawings were kept in the Glass files and in 2001 sold to the ArchiTech Gallery collection. Digital copies are kept in the Art Institute of Chicago. Henry P. Glass Designer A D I |
Click on image to view larger version | Salesman’s Desk Drawing #36 of the set of 48, this desk is quite different from that pictured in the perspective drawing [#14] drawn in 1945 and in the previous show. Drawn March 30, 1946, it may indicate the original desktop was too small for its use by the salesman. It pictures a ghostly birch leaf [called a flap on the drawing] and gate leg that may or may not have been added. Most of the detailed furniture designs after the 1946 move into his new office show more Mid-Century Modern steel hairpin legs instead of the more “moderne” look shown in earlier perspective drawings. The original 48 Kling Studios design drawings were kept in the Glass files and in 2001 sold to the ArchiTech Gallery collection. Digital copies are kept in the Art Institute of Chicago. Henry P. Glass Designer A D I |
Click on image to view larger version | Desk for Artists Offices Numbered #42 in the set of 48, this perspective of a desk shows the original placement of the furniture seen in earlier designs for the Kling Studios had to be rethought. The title block on the lower right specifies 25 were needed but none of the plan drawings of the year before show their use. To save money, too, off-the-shelf Diebold file drawers painted red were incorporated in the supervisor’s and artists’ desks. The file units were to sit on birch plywood shelves. The original 48 Kling Studios design drawings were kept in the Glass files and in 2001 sold to the ArchiTech Gallery collection. Digital copies are kept in the Art Institute of Chicago. Henry P. Glass designer A D I |