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- UD students meet alumni, experience 'closing bell' at NYSE
- Newark Police seek assistance in identifying suspects in robbery
- Rivlin says bipartisan budget action, stronger budget rules key to reversing debt
- Stink bugs shouldn't pose problem until late summer
- Gao to honor Placido Domingo in Washington performance
- Adopt-A-Highway project keeps Lewes road clean
- WVUD's Radiothon fundraiser runs April 1-10
- W.D. Snodgrass Symposium to honor Pulitzer winner
- New guide helps cancer patients manage symptoms
- UD in the News, March 25, 2011
- For the Record, March 25, 2011
- Public opinion expert discusses world views of U.S. in Global Agenda series
- Congressional delegation, dean laud Center for Community Research and Service program
- Center for Political Communication sets symposium on politics, entertainment
- Students work to raise funds, awareness of domestic violence
- Equestrian team wins regional championship in Western riding
- Markell, Harker stress importance of agriculture to Delaware's economy
- Carol A. Ammon MBA Case Competition winners announced
- Prof presents blood-clotting studies at Gordon Research Conference
- Sexual Assault Awareness Month events, programs announced
- Stay connected with Sea Grant, CEOE e-newsletter
- A message to UD regarding the tragedy in Japan
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- March 31-May 14: REP stages Neil Simon's 'The Good Doctor'
- April 2: Newark plans annual 'wine and dine'
- April 5: Expert perspective on U.S. health care
- April 5: Comedian Ace Guillen to visit Scrounge
- April 6, May 4: School of Nursing sponsors research lecture series
- April 6-May 4: Confucius Institute presents Chinese Film Series on Wednesdays
- April 6: IPCC's Pachauri to discuss sustainable development in DENIN Dialogue Series
- April 7: 'WVUDstock' radiothon concert announced
- April 8: English Language Institute presents 'Arts in Translation'
- April 9: Green and Healthy Living Expo planned at The Bob
- April 9: Center for Political Communication to host Onion editor
- April 10: Alumni Easter Egg-stravaganza planned
- April 11: CDS session to focus on visual assistive technologies
- April 12: T.J. Stiles to speak at UDLA annual dinner
- April 15, 16: Annual UD push lawnmower tune-up scheduled
- April 15, 16: Master Players series presents iMusic 4, China Magpie
- April 15, 16: Delaware Symphony, UD chorus to perform Mahler work
- April 18: Former NFL Coach Bill Cowher featured in UD Speaks
- April 21-24: Sesame Street Live brings Elmo and friends to The Bob
- April 30: Save the date for Ag Day 2011 at UD
- April 30: Symposium to consider 'Frontiers at the Chemistry-Biology Interface'
- April 30-May 1: Relay for Life set at Delaware Field House
- May 4: Delaware Membrane Protein Symposium announced
- May 5: Northwestern University's Leon Keer to deliver Kerr lecture
- May 7: Women's volleyball team to host second annual Spring Fling
- Through May 3: SPPA announces speakers for 10th annual lecture series
- Through May 4: Global Agenda sees U.S. through others' eyes; World Bank president to speak
- Through May 4: 'Research on Race, Ethnicity, Culture' topic of series
- Through May 9: Black American Studies announces lecture series
- Through May 11: 'Challenges in Jewish Culture' lecture series announced
- Through May 11: Area Studies research featured in speaker series
- Through June 5: 'Andy Warhol: Behind the Camera' on view in Old College Gallery
- Through July 15: 'Bodyscapes' on view at Mechanical Hall Gallery
- More What's Happening >>
- UD calendar >>
- Middle States evaluation team on campus April 5
- Phipps named HR Liaison of the Quarter
- Senior wins iPad for participating in assessment study
- April 19: Procurement Services schedules information sessions
- UD Bookstore announces spring break hours
- HealthyU Wellness Program encourages employees to 'Step into Spring'
- April 8-29: Faculty roundtable series considers student engagement
- GRE is changing; learn more at April 15 info session
- April 30: UD Evening with Blue Rocks set for employees
- Morris Library to be open 24/7 during final exams
- More Campus FYI >>
1:38 p.m., June 23, 2009----Retired University of Delaware professor of interior design Jeanne S. Rymer literally chaired an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. For many years, Rymer's passion was collecting modern chairs. She had them throughout her house and established a small museum in the lower level of her home, which was open to the public by appointment and attracted many visitors, including her UD students.
When she moved to California, she donated her collection to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and A Taste for Modern: The Jeanne Rymer Collection of Twentieth-Century Chairs will be on exhibition through Sept. 20 in the Collab Gallery in the Perelman Building. Rymer and her collection also sparked a feature in Antiques magazine.
“I was knowledgeable about furniture since I was in the interior design field, so my interest in chairs was natural. Modern chairs for the most part were lightweight and small and easy to transport and move so they were collectable. They were made in different designs and of wood, molded wood, plastic, metal, fiberglass and even cardboard,” Rymer said. “The house my partner and I owned had space for my collection, and I took it seriously.”
The Rago auction house in New Jersey had a modern furniture auction twice a year, she said, and she studied the offerings beforehand, decided what she wanted to buy and how much she was willing to spend. “I learned so much and had so much fun acquiring the chairs for our museum,” she said.
“When I moved to California, I was so very happy to find a home at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for my cherished pieces,” Rymer said. “They are like friends to me.”
There were two chairs by well-known architect Frank Gehry that she could not bear to part with. Known as “high sticking chairs,” the chairs are elegant, she said, and made of thin wooden strips, which are interwoven.
According to Donna Corbin, associate curator of European decorative arts, who organized the exhibit, “Chairs are Jeanne's passion, and this exhibition displays the fun, and sometimes quirky works she collected.”
She said, “Jeanne Rymer's collection documents several important trends in 20th-century chair design” and displays “a broad overview of modern chairmaking.”
In late June, Rymer said she plans to come to Philadelphia and meet a group of friends and lunch at the museum, and then go to the exhibition and visit her “chair friends.”
“I am really looking forward to the trip,” she said.
Rymer had another collection of Depression era Arthurdale furniture from her mother, Nellie Blythe Stockdale. Arthurdale furniture was made by Mountaineer Craftsman Cooperative in West Virginia. Rymer donated that collection to her alma mater, the University of West Virginia, where it is one of the main attractions of its New Deal Homestead Museum.
Article by Sue Moncure
Photos courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art