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  • A throne by Knoll designer David Adjaye is on display at Imaginary Portraits: Prince Igor, an exhibition at the Met Gallery.

  • David Adjaye, right) seated on the throne during the exhibit's opening reception on January 30, 2014.

Features

Striking Throne by Knoll Designer David Adjaye for the Grand Tier at the Metropolitan Opera Created for Imaginary Portraits: Prince Igor Exhibition

New Installation at the Arnold & Marie Schwartz Gallery Met is Largest to Date

February 3, 2014

The striking throne, 7-feet in height, in the Grand Tier of the Met Opera, designed by David Adjaye and executed by the Knoll product development team, is part of the new exhibition Imaginary Portraits: Prince Igor now on display at the Arnold & Marie Schwartz Gallery Met.

The installation follows the introduction of David Adjaye's Washington Collection™ for Knoll, which debuted October 2013.  The collection includes Washington Skeleton™, an aluminum side chair; Washington Skin™, a nylon side chair; and Washington Corona™, a limited-edition bronze coffee table.

The throne is part of the largest exhibition in Gallery Met history. In addition to the architect’s throne, the exhibit includes the work of 23 prominent artists, including Kristin Baker, John Baldessari, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Francesco Clemente, Peter Doig, Rachel Feinstein, Ryan Johnson, Ragnar Kjartansson, Alex Katz, Thomas Lawson, Raymond Pettibon, Elizabeth Peyton, Peter Saul, Peter Schlesinger, Dana Schutz, Dasha Shishkin, Sophie von Hellermann, Charline von Heyl, and Michael Williams, as well as fashion designer Thom Browne and New Yorker art critic Peter Schjeldahl.

Imaginary Portraits: Prince Igor coincides with the February 6, 2014 opening of Prince Igor at the Metropolitan Opera , where the Russian epic will be been performed for the first time since 1917.

Commenting on the installation, Dodie Kazanjian, director of Gallery Met, said: "Prince Igor is based on a real figure from the 12th century, and we don't really know what he looked like. "I've always wanted to do a show of imaginary portraits, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. The show is a rich mixture of materials and styles, and I'm enormously gratified by the unpredictable responses of these gifted artists."

Members of the Knoll product development team, including Henk Vanhekken, Adam Deskevich, Ron Snyder, Tony Clemente, Dave Bloom and Ashley Basilio, worked closely with David Adjaye to finalize and construct the piece.

Imaginary Portraits: Prince Igor will be on display in Arnold & Marie Schwartz Gallery Met, located at Lincoln Center in New York City, between West 62nd and 65th Streets and Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, through Saturday, May 10, 2014.