"Utopia" Medicine Chest Designer: Jonathan Adler (American, born 1966)

2007

American Decorative Arts

On view, 3rd floor, Modern and Contemporary Art and Design

The ceramics of Jonathan Adler refashion the aesthetic of "midcentury modern" into knowingly kitschy and subversive objects for a contemporary market. His work draws upon a broad range of sources, including modernist architecture, postwar ceramics, and popular culture. This pill box invokes the pharmacologically driven quest for happiness made infamous through the novel and film The Valley of the Dolls. Pills form a low-relief band around the sides of the box, while a spritely flower with pills for leaves and petals grows out of a prescription bottle on the lid.

Medium

Stoneware with platinum glaze

Dimensions

2 × 2 × 4 in. (5.08 × 5.08 × 10.16 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Justin Scott Zaremby, B.A. 2003, Ph.D. 2007, J.D. 2010

Accession Number

2008.6.1a-b

Geography

Made in Peru

Culture

American

Period

21st century

Classification

Containers

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
The manufacturer, New York, December 2007; sold to Justin Scott Zaremby, New York, December 31, 2007; given to the Yale University Art Gallery, 2008
Bibliography
  • "Acquisitions, July 1, 2007–June 30, 2008," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2008), 170
Object copyright
Copyright Artist/Estate/Foundation
In Copyright
Additional information

Object/Work type

botanical, stoneware

Marks

Molded into underside on the lower half of a prescription bottle: "Dr. JONATHAN / ADLER [blurred]"

Inscriptions

Names on molded pills on exterior sides, starting at 12:00 and going clock-wise: "EUPHORIA / LITHIUM / VALIUM / EUPHORIA / CODEINE / PROZAC / XANAX / ZOLOFT / VALIUM / CODEINE / VIAGRA / PAXIL / ADVIL / CELEXA"\r\nMolded into underside of box, within a prescription bottle: "EUPHORIA / Directions / take 1 pill / twice a day / Dr. JONATHAN / ADLER"

Technical metadata and APIs

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Open in Mirador

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