From our 50’s couch
1. Plywood: Material, Process, Form opened at MoMA in NYC
2. Artek Open Archives an image database showcasing past and present Artek interiors
3. LA Modern Auctions (LAMA) and Quittenbaum catalogs via isuu
Way out of our league
Well, we cannot really complain about fetichism here, but we can still spot a speculative bubble when we see one. Astronomical prices for mid-century furniture is nothing new for the likes of Prouvé, Perriand, Ponti and Molino, but every time we look they seem to increase. Cue the sales from the recent Design Miami in the margins of the Art Basel Fair.
Among mostly contemporary “Furnitart” on sale at very very high prices (Bouroulec at $40,000 a piece any one?), several well heeled mid-century specialists were present: Sebastian and Barquet, Jousse Entreprises, Gallerie Seguin and R 20th Century among them. Guess this was an inspired move for them!
the Mexican bookcase by Perriand and Prouvé went for €130,000 to a Russian collector. It’s not only football teams…
Jean Royère “Ours Polaire” Sofa and armchairs,1949, sold for $800,000…
the “Croisillon” bed (at the back): yours for a mere $125,000
R Gallery
Joaquim Tenreiro table – € 300,000
(and it’s even not Jacaranda…)
I guess that we are a bit jealous. More on Design Miami here and The Art Newspaper.
From our 50’s couch
1. George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher just opened at the Oklahoma City Museum of Arts until April 11th.
2. 24 Gerrit Rietveld chairs via Mondo-Blogo
3. A quick guide to collecting mid-century furniture courtesy Brooklyn Based.
From our 50’s couch
1. Read all of Mondoblogo. Great material on furniture and designers, and more. Prouvé lured us there: see the great pictures of his designs when found in the Republic of Congo. Don’t miss the discussion and follow-up. A reminder of earlier posts on Finnish design and Chandigarh.
2. Again from Mondoblogo (yes, we like) sitting on the edge about the Boyd collection mentioned not long ago here as well. More here on the Boyds.
3. Handcrafted Modern by Leslie Williamson: the houses of modernist designers.
Minimal Desks circa 1950s
The 1950s were a great period for desk design. Economic expansion and the rise of the tertiary sector perhaps explain that. There is still a lot of sobriety in the designs, as if reminiscent of the deprivations of the war. Only towards the end of the decade do we see more expansive lines.
Finn Juhl (1948)
Franco Albini, #80 desk (1949)
Jacques Adnet (1950)
Jean Prouvé – Standard desk (1950)
Charles and Ray Eames – ESU desk (1952)
Greta Magnusson Grossman (1952)
Pierre Paulin – (1953)
Hans Wegner (1954)
Jean Prouvé – Compas desk (1955)
Jules Wabbes (1955)
Franco Albini – stadera desk (1958)
Ico Parisi – (1958)
Nana Ditzel (1960)
Virtual Exhibits
We just discovered these great virtual exhibit visits from Jacksons’ Berlin antenna. Wish that they will add to the collection very soon.
If you have the occasion to visit Stockholm or Berlin pay a visit to their gallery. We have yet to visit the Berlin one – it had just opened the last time we had the pleasure to visit them on Sibyllegatan. Great space.
Bruno Mathsson Exhibition
Finn Juhl Exhibition
Finnish Design Exhibtion
From our 50’s couch
1. A very interesting story on how Finnish design ends up in Tokyo and elsewhere in The ones that got away by Jonas Forth.
2. Our future one-stamp collection: ’2+3′ wallpaper by Ilmari and Annikki Tapiovaara in 1958 and ‘Paimio’ chair by Alvar Aalto in 1931-32 via wallpaper and chair « well centred.
3. The Boyd collection and Oscar Niemeyer’s Strick House via the North Elevation
Rietveld’s Universe
Only a couple of weeks left to visit the exhibition at the Centraal Museum Utrecht (via the always informative Abitare). We will not make it, but there is the catalog to console oneself.
From our 50’s couch
This must be the weather; more from our couch surfing:
1. Larry Weinberg at Interior Design on where are the midcentury Norwegian designers and on the geometry of circular chairs
2. Just opened at MOCA in Jacksonville “The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design”
3. On the risk of shipping vintage furniture by Modern Findings: something we can relate to
Minimal
Mies Van Der Rohe – MR10 (1927)
Gerrit Rietveld – Zig Zag chair (1932-34)
Hans Pieck (1946-1947)
Egon Eiermann – SE69 chair (1952)
Gio Ponti – Superleggera (1957)
Werner Panton – S chair (1965)
Shigeru Uchida – Rattan Chair (1974)
Ron Arad – Eight by One (1991)
Martin Van Severen – MVS chaise (2000)
Shigeru Ban – Carbon Fiber chair (2009)
“”I wanted to make a chair that is even lighter than the gio ponti’s superleggera – a chair so light that a child could pick it up with just his little finger.”
Alvar and I 