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Leg Splint

Decorative Arts and Design

On View: Decorative Art, 20th-Century Decorative Arts, 4th Floor
Called by the U.S. Navy during World War II to create a lightweight, inexpensive leg splint for injured personnel, the California designers Charles and Ray Eames employed molded plywood to produce a functional yet sculptural form that informed their later furniture designs.
MEDIUM Plywood
  • Place Manufactured: Venice, California, United States
  • DATES designed 1941–1942; manufactured 1943–1945
    DIMENSIONS 42 x 4 1/4 x 8 in. (106.7 x 10.8 x 20.3 cm)  (show scale)
    MARKINGS Branded on inside section behind ankle: "S2-1790"; stamped in green on outside near top: "MOLDED PLYWOOD DIVISION / LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA / patent pending [...] EAMES [...]"; circular logo containing "EVANS PRODUCTS COMPANY" around circle, and crisscrossing in center: "EVANS / EVANS"
    SIGNATURE no signature
    INSCRIPTIONS no inscriptions
    ACCESSION NUMBER 83.156
    CREDIT LINE Anonymous gift
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Long piece of plywood molded to the human leg, flaring out at the top to fit against the buttocks and tapering in at the bottom to support the lower leg and foot. Numerous rectangular cut-out sections to allow for ties to secure leg to splint. CONDITION: Good. No finishing solution was applied to surface. Some splits in surface due to normal production.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Decorative Art, 20th-Century Decorative Arts, 4th Floor
    CAPTION Charles Eames (American, 1907–1978). Leg Splint, designed 1941–1942; manufactured 1943–1945. Plywood, 42 x 4 1/4 x 8 in. (106.7 x 10.8 x 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Anonymous gift, 83.156. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 83.156_view2_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 83.156_view2_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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