Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s by Cara Greenberg
New Photography by Tim Street-Porter
Designed by George Corsillo
square 8vo. pp. 175. profusely illustrated in b/w & colour. source guide. index. hardcover. dw. (fine condition). New York: Harmony Books, 1984.
First Edition.
ISBN-10: 0517554119 / ISBN-13: 9780517554111
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Mid-Century Modern is a loving tribute to the innovative furniture of the fifties and its enduring popularity. Fully illustrated with more than 200 full-color and black-and-white photographs, this visual tour reveals the best of post-war furniture, from high-concept designs to their kitschy counterparts.
The fifties were a unique time in the history of the furniture industry. Designers with backgrounds in architecture created organically shaped furniture using the new technologies and materials developed during the war. Sensuous biomorphic designs proliferated. Appreciative consumers treasured the sleek, elegant, and functional designs of Charles Eames, George Nelson, Isamu Nogushi, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, and many others. This new furniture stacked, flexed, and folded; it was rearrangeable and interchangeable; and it addressed the needs of modern life.
The book's highlights include the ten best chairs of the fifties, inside looks at the homes of top collectors, rare photographs from the Herman Miller archives and from the personal collections of designers such as Wendell Lovett and Vladimir Kagan.