Decorative Art

RUDE OSOLNIK
(American, 1915-2001)

Salad Set, about 1950
Turned rosewood
Museum purchase 1999.4.1-.6

The practice of wood turning, the cutting of wood as it spins on a lathe, has been employed for centuries to create a variety of utilitarian objects and furniture parts. Since the 1930s, a number of American artisans have created and popularized turned-wood vessels that stand alone as art objects. In his works, Kentucky’s master wood turner Rude Osolnik, who taught for forty years at Berea College, celebrated the imperfections in found-wood pieces by incorporating knots, checks, and other markings left by nature. This salad set is a rare and early example of his production. Osolnik typically did not produce grouped sets, but rather turned individual pieces. Made from luxurious rosewood, which may have been salvaged from a veneer mill, the rimless bowls are characterized by undulating, organic shapes that further suggest Osolnik’s interest in the natural world.