PRIZE DESIGNS FOR MODERN FURNITURE
from the International Competition
for Low-Cost Furniture Design
Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.
Kaufmann, Edgar, Jr.: PRIZE DESIGNS FOR MODERN FURNITURE [from the International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design]. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1950. First [only] edition. A nearly fine softcover book in stiff, printed wrappers: trace of wear overall. Former owners name and address neatly written inside front cover, otherwise interior unmarked and very clean. Cover design by Don Knorr. Out-of-print and never reissued. Scarce.
7.5 x 10 softcover book with 78 pages and 117 b/w photographs and diagrams of the winning entries in the legendary 1949 MoMA International competition which introduced the experimental plastic furniture designs of Charles Eames to the world. In 1948, Eames and his co-workers partnered with the University of California (Los Angeles Campus) to develop a method of mass-producing plastic chairs, and the rest is history. Important early document of the partnership that eventually spawned the much-loved designs for Zenith/Herman Miller/Modernica.
A magnificent snapshot of the way the modern movement was blossoming in the days after World War II. A very desirable title that is much more uncommon than the 1940 Organic Design in Home Furnishings catalogue. Includes some nice insights into the postwar Chicago Industrial Design scene centered around the Institute of Design and the Armour Research Foundation. Highly recommended.
Contents:
- New Design for Low-Cost Furniture
- International Competition fo Low-Cost Furniture Design
- First Prize Seating Units
- Don Knorr
- Georg Leowald
- Second Prize Seating Units
- Charles Eames, and the University of California, Los Angeles Campus
- Davis Pratt
- Third Prize Seating Units
- Alexey Brodovitch
- Honorable Mention Seating Units
- John McMorran, Jr. and John Merrill, Jr.
- First Prize Storage Units
- Robin Day and Clive Latimer
- Honorable Mention Storage Units
- Ernest Race
- Design Research Team Entries
- Robert Lewis and James Prestini, and Armour Research Foundation
- Donald Wallance, and Midwest Research Institute; Yale School of Forestry
- Carl Koch, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Harry Weese, and Armour Research Foundation
- Marcel Breuer, and U.S. Forest Products Laboratory
- Other Entries
- Willy and Emil Guhl
- Charles Eames
- Institute of Design, Chicago
- Theodore Luderowski
- Ilmari Tapiovaara
- Oliver Lundquist and Abel Sorensen
- Guido Gai
- Pierre Faucheux
- Augusto Romano
- Junzo Sakakura
- Alfred Boenecke and Gunther Gottwald
- Gerhard Weber
- Ernst Pollak
- Ivo Pannaggi
- Hans Wegner
- Xavier and Clara Porset Guerrero
- Arne Korsmo and Jorn Utzon
- Henry Kibel and C. E. Stousland, Jr.
- Marco Zanuso
- Huson Jackson
- Werner Blaser
- Franco Albini and Luigi Colombini
- Biographies of the Prize-Winning Designers
Edgar Kaufmann Jr. (1910 - 1989) studied painting and typography in Europe before serving as an apprentice architect at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin Foundation from 1933 to 1934. The Kaufmanns of Pittsburgh commissioned two of the iconic American residences of the 20th-century, Wright's Fallingwater in 1936 and then Richard Neutra's Palm Springs Desert House in 1946. Edgar Jr. joined the Museum of Modern Art in 1946 as director of the Industrial Design Department, a position he held until 1955. While at MoMA, he initiated the Good Design program (1950-1955) and was a strong proponent of uniform industrial design education standards.
Spreads from this volume can be viewed here.
out of stock