Wendell Castle: Scrapbook (1958-1980)

Text by Alison Castle and Evan Snyderman

This large-format scrapbook, compiling Wendell Castle’s press clippings, invitations and ephemera, records both his acclaim and neglect during the golden years of the studio movement.

This special-edition scrapbook offers a unique opportunity for readers to immerse themselves in the world of Wendell Castle, icon of the American studio furniture movement and the twentieth century’s preeminent expert in sculptural woodworking. Castle was renowned for his superb craftsmanship, organic forms, and highly original techniques for shaping solid, stack-laminated wood.

In 1959, Castle’s wife, the artist Nancy Jurs, started collecting press clippings, photographs, invitations, and personal notes on Castle’s work, eventually assembling them into an oversized scrapbook. This scrapbook, reproduced here in exact facsimile, proves that the work created by Castle during these decades had a more lasting impression on his field than he fully recognized—while also allowing us to better comprehend the challenges he faced for not following the herd. More importantly, these documents demonstrate how Castle almost singlehandedly led the charge to create sculpture within the category of furniture, offering us a deeper understanding of his time and the circumstances surrounding his work.

PURCHASE

Publisher: R & Company and Damiani
Release date: February 2020
Format: Hardcover
Dimensions: 9 x 15”
Pages: 168
ISBN: 978-88-6208-716-2