Wendell Castle has been called a trailblazer, a phenomenon, and a major catalyst in the emergence of the art furniture movement. Castle challenges the traditional concepts of furniture design, elevating his pieces to the level of fine art.  He began his career as a sculptor, after having received his MFA in Sculpture and a BFA in Industrial Design from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Castle's work has evolved from utilitarian and sculpted furniture, to pieces that recall art movements throughout the ages.  Recently, it has evolved to the deconstruction of the function.  Castle's work still retains the humor and irony he is known for, but it is now coupled with a complete mastery of the form as both art and craft.  Recent exhibitions of Castle’s work have been held at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Musee Des Arts Decoratifs, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California.


SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Art Museum Project, Dearborn, MI
Atlanta High Museum, Atlanta, GA
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI.
Design Museum Ghent, Ghent, Belgium
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
Detroit Institute of Arts, MI
Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY
Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN
Ithaca College Art Museum, NY
Lannan Foundation Collection, CA
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, KS
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN
Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC
Mobile Museum of Fine Arts, AL
St. Louis Art Museum, MO
The Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
Museum of Decorative Arts, Montreal, Canada
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Nordenfieldske Kunstindustrimeet, Oslo, Norway
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
Renwick Gallery, The National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, DC
Rochester Institute of Technology,Bevier Gallery, NY
Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
University of New Hampshire, Art Museum, Durham. NH
University of Utah Art Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS