It must be a bit of a strange feeling, going around someone’s house inserting art installations, but Danish ceramicist Anders Ruhwald picked the right place for such an apparent intrusion: home-turned-museum Saarinen House, the creation and former residence of architect Eliel Saarinen.
The Finnish American architect built Saarinen House in 1930, raising a family in the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan property before it came under the care of Cranbrook Art Museum as a historic house in 1994. A shrine to modernism, the museum now run tours around the house, and Ruhwald, Head of Cranbrook’s ceramics department, has been invited to add his artistic voice to the echoes of the Saarinen family still reverberating strongly within its walls. His site-sensitive pieces, The Anatomy of a Home, are marked by a liquidity – his melting lamp Gottlieb’s Gaze, or his bowl For a Timeless House still seemingly spinning on the wheel, and the ambitious large-scale School of the Flower. The house is open for viewing through the Cranbrook Art Museum only; Anders Ruhwald’s The Anatomy of a Home runs until 31st October.
Lamp (Gottlieb’s gaze)
2011
Book room, Saarinen House, Cranbrook
Glazed earthenware and lamp components
30-1/4 x 27 x 9-7/8 inches
Collection of Gary l. Wasserman
Saarinen House
Cranbrook Academy of Art
Bloomfield Hills, MI, USA
Crystal ball (The Future)
2012
Studio alcove, Saarinen House, Cranbrook
Glazed earthenware and crystal ball 21-5/8 x 16-1/4 x 16 inches
Collection of the artist
Master Bedroom,
Saarinen house,
Cranbrook
For Leisure and Pleasure
2012
Courtyard, Saarinen House, Cranbrook
Glazed earthenware, pinewood, and fasteners
lounge: 32-1/4 x 21-7/8 x 72-1/8 inches (each)
vase: 20-1/4 x 23-3/4 x 21 inches (each)
Collection of the artist
Fade To White
2012
Second floor hallway linen closet
Glazed earthenware
2-5/8 x 13-3/4 x 11-1/8 inches (each of five components)
Collection of the artist
The flight of The Crane
2012
Studio, Saarinen House, Cranbrook
Made in collaboration with Trine Ruhwald
Glazed earthenware and woven linen textile:
104 x 60-3/8 x 24-1/2 inches (with armature)
Sculpture: 53-1/2 x 18-1/8 x 18-1/8 inches
Collection of the artist
Bowl (For a timeless house)
2012
Glazed earthenware 8-1/2 x 11-1/2 x 11-1/2 inches
Collection of Cranbrook art museum museum purchase
with funds from the Howard Kottler memorial acquisition fund
The flight of The Crane (Detail)
2012
Studio, Saarinen House, Cranbrook
Made in collaboration with Trine Ruhwald
Glazed earthenware and woven linen textile:
104 x 60-3/8 x 24-1/2 inches (with armature)
sculpture: 53-1/2 x 18-1/8 x 18-1/8 inches
Collection of the artist
Dining Room,
Saarinen House
All images by: Tim Thayer and R. H. Hensleigh;
Copyright of Cranbrook Art Museum
