Designer:  Kay Whitcomb (1921 – 2015)

Item: Enamel lidded box

Manufactured by:  Kay Whitcomb

Country of origin:  United States

Year made:  1960

Materials:  Copper, enamel, wood

Dimensions:  2” x 4 ½” x 3 ¾”

Condition:  Enamel top is excellent, and box is very good

Description: Here is a rarely found enamel lidded box by one the leading and important enamel artists of the mid-twentieth century.  We have only seen a couple of other boxes by her come to market, and only two had her stylized abstract enamel artwork.  The other were earlier pieces with objective imagery.  This box is signed and dated on the bottom of the box in the wood, as we have seen with two other boxes.  Some of her work is signed in the enamel, some not.  Usually, her abstract work contained a legend on the back that decoded the coded abstract imagery.  This does have that, and to date we have been unable to figure out what it says. We would be grateful to anyone out there who can decode this.

Whitcomb achieved national recognition and accolades for her work during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Her work often featured fanciful figurative elements, strong geometric structure and words, phrases and quotations.  She studied at RISD and Cambridge School of Art, apprenticed with the master enamel artist Doris Hall in 1946, and began teaching at the Art Center in La Jolla in 1956. The first enamel teacher in San Diego, she remained in La Jolla until 1990 when she returned to Massachusetts. Whitcomb was a board member of the Southern California Designer-Craftsmen and the San Diego Art Guild (president 1968-69) and also a member of the Allied Craftsmen of San Diego. She was a founder of the Enamel Guild West and made many trips to Europe where she was guest artist at Gustavberg, Sweden in 1969 and Crahait, Belgium during the early 70s. These industrial residencies allowed her to develop singular methods for architectural enamels on steel which required only one firing. Her work is in the permeant collection of the Boston Museum of Art and other museum and other important collections, and renewed interest in her work has been developing.

References: Nelson, Harold; Jazzar, Bernard, Painting with Fire: Masters of Enameling in America, 1930-1980. Long Beach Museum of Art, California (2006); Rosenberg, Alan, Alluring Enamel. Modernism Magazine: (Spring 2003) pgs 68–72; Jazzar, Bernard N and Nelson, Harlod B. The Enamels of Annemarie Davidson, Glass on Metal, The Enamelist’s Magazine, Volume 27 Number 5 December 2008, pgs 98-100; periodical California Design: 6 in 1960