Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Image of Tawaraya Boxing Ring
Studio Azzurro Italian
Not on view
Umeda was a design consultant at Olivetti and created the Tawaraya Boxing Ring for the first Memphis exhibition in 1981. Tawaraya is a synthesis of East and West, Japanese traditions and Pop sensibilities. Like all Memphis furniture, it is intended to challenge one’s concept of its form and function. In the model of a conversation pit, part of a typically midcentury domestic landscape, it is fitted with tatami mats, which evoke the serenity of a Japanese interior. With its stark black-and-white base, brightly colored ropes, and lacquered wood lighting fixtures, Tawaraya uses the sparring of boxing as a metaphor for the back and forth of conversation. This photograph shows the Memphis group posing within the ring for a publicity shot that has become the most iconic image of both the group and the work.
