Artworks that are also functional objects
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Artworks That Are Also Functional Objects — Daily trivia Monday, May 4, 2026: questions and answers
All 10 questions with answers and explanations. Play this daily
Q 01What covered Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum when Cellini's gold Saliera was stolen?
- AScaffolding
- BA festival light display
- CProtest banners
- DHeavy snow
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Scaffolding
The thief climbed the reconstruction scaffolding, and the piece stayed missing until 2006, when it was dug up in a forest and the culprit was jailed.
Q 02What kitchen job was Philippe Starck's spidery aluminium 'Juicy Salif' designed for?
- AGrinding pepper
- BWhisking eggs
- CSqueezing citrus
- DOpening wine bottles
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Squeezing citrus
Squeezing citrus. Starck sketched it on a napkin while squeezing lemon over a plate of squid, which inspired its three-legged shape.
Q 03The Morris chair, sold by William Morris's firm, is an early type of what?
- ARocker
- BRecliner
- CFolding stool
- DSwivel seat
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Recliner
Recliner. Its hinged back sits between two bare wooden arms and is set to the angle you want with a bar dropped into pegs or notches.
Q 04The Herman Miller glass-topped coffee table on two curved wooden pieces is named for which sculptor?
- AGeorge Nakashima
- BSori Yanagi
- CShiro Kuramata
- DIsamu Noguchi
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Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi. The Japanese American sculptor designed it for Herman Miller in 1947, and the table is still in production.
Q 05Marcel Breuer's tubular-steel Wassily Chair was inspired by what everyday object?
- AA bicycle
- BA hospital bed
- CA typewriter
- DA ship's railing
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A bicycle
A bicycle. Breuer admired the light steel tubes of his first bicycle, and despite the name the chair wasn't designed for Wassily Kandinsky, who simply got a copy.
Q 06Which Gerrit Rietveld chair embodies De Stijl principles with primary colors and geometric forms?
- AWassily
- BHill House
- CZig-Zag
- DRed and Blue
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Red and Blue
Rietveld built the original in plain unstained beech; the red, blue, yellow and black were only added around 1923, after fellow De Stijl member Bart van der Leck suggested bright colours.
Q 07Which term describes art designed to be worn on the body, blurring sculpture, fashion and craft?
- APerformance Art
- BWearable Art
- CConceptual Art
- DInstallation Art
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Wearable Art
Wearable art refers to unique, often handmade, art pieces in the shape of clothing or jewelry, intended to be accepted as artistic creations and displayed on the body.
Q 08Dalí's 'Lobster Telephone' was made for which English poet and Surrealist collector?
- AW. H. Auden
- BEdward James
- CStephen Spender
- DJohn Betjeman
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Edward James
Edward James. Dalí joked that when he ordered grilled lobster he was never served a boiled telephone, and James also commissioned his Mae West Lips Sofa.
Q 09Gifu's traditional craft, modernised into the Akari light sculptures, was what?
- ABamboo umbrellas
- BSilk kimonos
- CPaper lanterns
- DLacquer bowls
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Paper lanterns
Paper lanterns. Gifu's mayor asked the sculptor to revive the town's fading lantern trade, and Akari are still handmade there from washi paper and bamboo.
Q 10Which Art Nouveau 'total design' architect filled Brussels' Hotel Tassel with sinuous 'whiplash' lines?
- ACharles Rennie Mackintosh
- BVictor Horta
- CHector Guimard
- DAntoni Gaudí
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Victor Horta
Victor Horta, a prominent Art Nouveau architect, was known for his 'total design' approach, where he integrated the architecture, furniture, and even door handles with flowing, nature-inspired 'whiplash' lines, as seen in his Hotel Tassel.
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