Artwork Details
Eugene Masselink
American, b. South Africa,
1910–1962
Eight-Fold Screen
1956
Medium
Stained walnut with paint and gilt
Dimensions
93 x 149 inches
Location
Level 3, Gallery 6
Accession Number
2006.28
Credit
Museum Purchase
About the Artwork
Eugene Masselink lived in Grand Rapids for most of his life and worked alongside Frank Lloyd Wright. This eight-panel screen was produced as part of Wright’s commission to design the bedroom of Elizabeth Gordon — one of the best-known arbiters of modernism in America — and was originally used as closet doors.
Masselink’s screen features the organic geometry that was described as “not an imitation of nature, but rather the delights of nature; [with] variations of patterns, subtle rhythms, and the sense of underlying structure.”