In honor of Alexander Girard’s birthday today, we share this 1972 poster advertisement from Herman Miller. Girard designed these graphics for Herman Miller’s Environmental Enrichment program and they were meant to be used within the Action Office system. The images were silkscreened on textile panels, which then could be affixed to a variety of flat surfaces to liven up an otherwise dull office environment.  The designs are one of the last projects Girard did for Herman Miller in their storied 22 year history.

More images of these panels can be found over on the Herman Miller blog.

Herman Miller poster (37 in. x 24 in.), Environmental Enrichment designed by Alexander Girard, 1972, FF71, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.(MHG_III_FF071_001)

Irwin Miller asks Sandro Girard what he would like from Russia “outside of Vodka and satellites.”

J. Irwin Miller to Alexander H. Girard, 26 March 1962, 2/13, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B002_f013_079)

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SUBMISSION: One to Forty-Nine (c. 1968) by Alexander Girard. Gift of the Estate of Xenia S. Miller to the Indianapolis Museum of Art

Missed this. Saw in person at the Miller House, just inside the front door. Totally charming, especially in a house made of squares.

In 1972, Alexander Girard’s One to Forty-Nine (MH2010.3) was being damaged by moths. Once the moths were killed, the box with feathers was treated with hair spray. Check out the note found in the Miller House and Garden Collection.

http://digitizingmillerhouseandgarden.tumblr.com/post/41810643320/girards-one-to-forty-nine-mh2010-3-was-being

Nancy Kriplen’s article “An Indiana Town Where Big Names Built” (New York Times, 10 May 2013) chronicles the impact J. Irwin Miller had on the architecture of Columbus, Indiana. When New York Times’ Home News Editor Cynthia Kellogg wrote to Irwin Miller in 1957 asking for permission to publish the Miller House “in a dignified manner,” Mr. Miller replied that he and Mrs. Miller had not yet made up their minds. The house was published in Architectural Forum (September 1958) and House and Garden (February 1959), but not in the New York Times. 

Cynthia Kellogg to J. Irwin Miller, 31 July 1957; draft of letter from J. Irwin Miller to Cynthia Kellogg; draft of letter from J. Irwin Miller to Alexander H. Girard, 1/8, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.  (MHG_Ia_B001_f008_067-068)

What did it take for the Millers to move in to their new home? Ten people devoted just to furnishings. Girard enlisted the help of his assistant Jeremy Lepard, five people from Ernest LoNano’s company, and three people from Treganowan’s. (LoNano made curtains and pillows and upholstered furniture. Treganowan made and supplied rugs.) 

Alexander Girard to Wanda Truitt, 11 March 1957, 2/9, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B002_f009_076-077)

Working with the Miller House and Garden Collection we sometimes get the briefest glance into the personal lives of those employed by the Millers. From these two documents, we know that Wanda L. Henderson, nee Truitt (Mr. Miller’s secrectary) married between July 15 and August 2, 1957. Her new initials “WLH” are handwritten on the memo from Girard.

Wanda L. Truitt to Susan Girard, 15 July 1957; Alexander Girard to Wanda Truitt, 30 July 1957, 2/14, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B002_f014_114, 113)

Alexander and Susan Girard established the Girard Foundation so their extensive folk art collection could be maintained after their death. Alexander Girard’s letter to Irwin Miller asking for Miller’s support of the Girard Foundation before it all “gets thrown to the wolves.”

Alexander H. Girard to J. Irwin Miller, 30 January 1973, 2/12, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.  (MHG_Ia_B002_f012_055-056)

In 1980 J. Irwin Miller described former conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony John Nelson as “probably the ablest young conductor in the United States right now.”

J. Irwin Miller to Alexander H. Girard, 30 April 1980, 2/12, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B002_f012_005)

Two items caught our attention on this invoice from Girard: Item 9 is for a model of the Storage Wall and Item 13 is a loan of $50 he made to Xenia Miller during a New York shopping trip. For a few images of the Storage Wall today, click here.

Invoice from office of Alexander Girard to Irwin Miller, 24 June 1955, 33/384, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ic_B033_f384_023)

Girard’s purchase order specifies the upholstered version (LAR-1) of the chair in the photograph. On the reverse of the photograph is written in pencil “CE-228-E.” We’re curious to know if anyone is familiar with this photo or its marking. Perhaps Charles Eames took it himself?

Black and white photograph of Eames LAR chair (8 x 10 inches) and purchase order from Alexander Girard to Herman Miller Furniture Company, 1 September 1955, 33/382, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ic_B033_f382_004-005)