Design 
27 October 2022
Design 
137

Office of Charles and Ray Eames

The World of Franklin & Jefferson collection

USA, 1975-76
offset lithograph on paper, bound book, printed paper smallest: 9 h × 9 w in (23 × 23 cm) largest: 46 h × 30 w in (117 × 76 cm)
estimate: $1,500–2,000
result: $1,500
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Collection includes The World of Franklin & Jefferson poster for the National Museum, Warsaw, Poland (1975), The World of Franklin & Jefferson poster for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1976), exhibition timeline (1976), exhibition book (1976) and Images of Early America (1976).
provenance: Robert Staples | Thence by descent to Barbara Fahs Charles

This work will ship from Rago in Lambertville, New Jersey.

print

The World of Franklin & Jefferson

Staples's miniature model for the exhibition. Barbara Fahs Charles is the figure in the foreground with her back to the camera.

The World of Franklin & Jefferson was the last major exhibition that the Eames Office completed. It was initially commissioned by USIA and toured three cities in Europe—Paris, Warsaw and London—under the agency’s supervision in 1975. The exhibition was produced for the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration with the cooperation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and funding from IBM. The exhibition opened at the Met in March 1976, followed by Chicago, Los Angeles and Mexico City. Robert Staples was the concept designer. After the Paris opening, Charles Eames sent a note to Bob and Barbara: “We missed you naturally―all that struggle and it looked just like the model.”

The Bennington Flag was the exhibition identifying symbol for the European tour, while an abstracted image of Franklin and Jefferson became the dominant image for the American tour.

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