Ray Eames

Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (née Kaiser; December 15, 1912 – August 21, 1988) was an American artist and designer who worked in a variety of media. In creative partnership with her husband, Charles Eames, she was responsible for groundbreaking contributions in the fields of architecture, graphic design, textile design, film, and furniture. The Eames Office is most famous for its furniture, which is still being produced. Together as a couple, the Eameses are considered one of the most influential creative forces of the 20th century. During her lifetime, Ray Kaiser Eames received less credit than she has been given posthumously in art and design literature, museum shows, and documentary films.

Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (née Kaiser; December 15, 1912 – August 21, 1988) was an American artist and designer who worked in a variety of media. In creative partnership with her husband, Charles Eames, she was responsible for groundbreaking contributions in the fields of architecture, graphic design, textile design, film, and furniture. The Eames Office is most famous for its furniture, which is still being produced. Together as a couple, the Eameses are considered one of the most influential creative forces of the 20th century. During her lifetime, Ray Kaiser Eames received less credit than she has been given posthumously in art and design literature, museum shows, and documentary films. A Communications Primer (1953) Bread (1953) House (1955) Day of the Dead (1957) Toccata for Toy Trains (1957) Glimpses of the U.S.A. (1959) An Introduction to Feedback (1960) Symmetry (1961) Topology (1961) IBM at the Fair (1964) Aquarium (1967) A Computer Glossary (1968) Tops (1969) Alpha (1972) Computer Perspective (1972) SX-70 (1972) Powers of Ten (1977) Atlas (1979) ===IBM and The 1964 World's Fair=== With their interest in communicating ideas visually, the Eameses also turned their attention to exhibition design, beginning in 1950, for the Chicago Merchandise Mart and the New York Museum of Modern Art, and continuing into the mid-1970s, for IBM. As ongoing consultants to IBM, Charles and Ray developed a special relationship with the company that involved not only the creation of films, presentations, and educational products, but also Charles and Ray's insights for the future of the company. During the 1960s and early 1970s, the Eameses designed a series of exhibitions for IBM, centered on scientific and mathematical themes, as well as famous individuals within those fields. If Ray was less passionate about computers than her husband, she shared his belief in their importance and used her talents to make them understandable and acceptable to ordinary people. In 1961, the IBM Corporation commissioned the Eameses to create Mathematica: A World of Numbers and Beyond, presenting mathematical concepts in a pleasurable way. Mathematica 's success gave the Eameses confidence to continue using exhibitions to explore complex themes, and the prestige it brought IBM led that corporation to commission a pavilion and an exhibition for the New York World's Fair of 1964. For this project, Charles and Ray immediately entered into discussions on this project with Eero Saarinen. The result was a 1.25-acre site divided into several distinct exhibition areas, each covered with an enormous translucent plastic canopy held up by steel "trees." Some designers and critics, considered it somewhat excessive and vulgar and felt that the Eameses had gone too far in their popularizing science, technology, and "the modern." The general public, however, appeared to have loved it. ===Other work=== The Eames Office's productivity slowed after Charles died, in August 1978¹. Ray worked on several unfinished projects (e.g. a German version of the Mathematica exhibition), continued consulting to IBM, published books, gave lectures, accepted awards, and administered the Eames archive and estate. She organized and donated approximately 1.5 million two-dimensional objects to the Library of Congress for archival safekeeping. Featuring all Eames Office projects from 1941 until the mid-80s, she authored a book—although much of it was altered before publication, just after her death. In the years prior to her death, Ray hosted visiting groups of 50 to 60 students¹, and was planning to host 100 members of the American Institute of Architects, to view the house and picnic in the meadow. ===Death=== Ray died in Cedars Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles, California, on August 21, 1988, 10 years to the day after Charles. They are buried beside each other in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri. The Office closed after her death.

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