Study for Leg Splint Sculpture

This is the final ink drawing for a sculpture that evolved from earlier sketches by Ray. The form shares a visual language with her logo design for the Eameses’ company at this time, the Molded Plywood Division of the Evans Products Company, and their earlier business, the Plyformed Wood Company. Ray contains her drawing within the contours of the designers’ leg splint pattern, which surrounds the composition as an outline in her previous drawings. Ray would translate the drawing into a three-dimensional object rising to just over three feet tall, corresponding to the overall dimensions of the leg splint. She jotted the words “OFFICE” and “TRIPOD” in pencil on the paper, along with the numbers “62155,” in black ink.