Designer: Stanley Tigerman (1930 – 2019) and Margaret McCurry (b. 1942)

Item: Pompeii Dinner Plate

Manufactured by: Swid Powell

Country of origin: Japan

Year made: 1984

Materials: Glazed stoneware

Dimensions: 12” in diameter

Condition: Excellent

Description: Here is the very well documented, but yet very hard to find Pompeii dinner plate by Tigerman and McCurry.  Despite it being a piece that went into production for public sale, very few were actually made, because they were not popular at the time they were introduced. Thus, they were only available for a short period of time and were quickly discounted. Therefore they are scarcely found.

The original full scale color design drawing for is reproduced on page 113 of the Tapert book, and an example of the plate appears in a photo on a shelf above Addie Powell’s head in her office on page 13 of the Tapert book. Examples can be found in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Blanton Art Museum and the Yale University Art Gallery gifted by Nan Swid from her personal collection.

References: Tapert, Annette. SWID POWELL: Objects by Architects, Thames and Hudson (1990) pages 15 and 113.  Swid Powell, Folding Sales Brochure 1986; the Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin 2012, Online Supplement, page 9.

Provenance: Marc Hacker, Vice President for Design and Development at Swid Powell.  Hacker is an architect who studied with Michael Graves at Princeton University.  Upon graduating he moved to New York City and got a position working for architect Richard Meier.  As a result of his work for Meier, Hacker was hired by Swid Powell, because they needed a formally trained architect to work with their stable of architects and designers to achieve the final objects produced for sale.  Hamel20, LLC is honored to represent the Hacker collection of Swid Powell objects, which includes prototypes and designs that were never produced for sale.