Judy Kensley McKie

Waterfall Hope, Aspen, Colorado

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1997

The Furniture Art of Judy Kensley McKie, exh. cat., Pritam & Eames, New York, 1994, n.p.

Judy Kensley McKie (1944-), born in Boston, Massachusetts, is a seminal figure of the American Studio Furniture movement. The present lot, a “Lion” Bench in bronze, is a fine example of the graphic lines, craftsmanship and playful allure found in McKie’s oeuvre.

Trained as a painter, McKie graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1966. Her artistic abilities as well as a penchant for pragmatism inform her furniture-making practice, which began in the early 1970s out of necessity for apartment furnishings. In 1971 she joined the New Hamburger Cabinetworks cooperative where she refined her woodworking skills in earnest. By 1975, McKie began to experiment with carving animal and nature motifs onto her furniture, breathing life into her designs. Inspired by the sculptures of African, Egyptian, indigenous American and pre-Columbian art, McKie infused her wooden work with spirit through low relief zoomorphic contours, and later, in bronze, entire animals assumed the form of structural elements. Her sculptural yet practical works of furniture gained institutional recognition in the American Craft Museum's 1979 exhibition New Handmade Furniture: American Furniture Makers Working in Hardwood.

McKie’s work is held in several museum collections, including the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, the DeCordova Sculpture Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. She is the recipient of a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation award.

The timeless quality inherent in McKie’s artful creations has resonated with collectors for generations, affirming her enduring appeal within the contemporary design landscape.