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拍品专文
T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings was born in Cheshire, England in 1903. He worked briefly as a naval architect and in the antiques trade with the dealer Charles Duveen before moving to New York in the 1930s, where he pursued a career as an interior decorator and furniture designer. He proceeded to open a showroom on Madison Avenue in New York City in 1936, where his career was launched. The showroom was spare, with bare plaster walls, simple bronze doors, and a mosaic tile floor with an image of the Greek god of fertility and wine and patron of the arts, Dionysus. The designs he showcased in this space, and was widely known for, were a modern fusion of Ancient Grecian classical designs with the layered curves of Art Deco.
Robsjohn-Gibbings was very candid with his critique of America’s enthusiasm for late eighteenth-century Georgian furniture reproductions and published a cheeky book titled, “Good-bye, Mr. Chippendale” in 1944. He was equally opposed to modernist designs that rejected ornamentation unrelated to an item's function. Robsjohn-Gibbings admired the work of Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore, which displayed organic impressions of movement and humanistic qualities.
He received private commissions through his showroom and the attention of his writing for magazines and books led to the first of many projects to design mass-produced furniture, specifically for Widdicomb Furniture Company, a large manufacturer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His work for Widdicomb, from 1946 to 1957, is reminiscent of modern Scandinavian designs, with sparse surface decorations and clean lines. His designs often included undulating curves and thoughtful embellishments. His approach to modern historicism was his trademark and can be seen through his sculptural and elegant designs. One of the pieces he produced for Widdicomb included the tiered, biomorphic Mesa Table, an icon of the era. This design was immediately recognized as a success and featured in Widdicomb’s showroom. It was also shown on the cover of House Beautiful in May 1952.
Christie's is honored to present the Mesa Table, Property from an Upper West Side, Manhattan, Collection. The table evokes mesa geographical features, which are the flat, elevated landforms with steep sides that are common in the American Southwest. Mesa landforms are evocative of tabletops, which is how they got their name (“Mesa” literally means “table” in Spanish). The table’s simplified lines and stacked curves highlight motion, balance, and grace and recall principles of Ancient Grecian and Art Deco styles. The Mesa Table was manufactured in three sizes, the present lot an example of the standard size available. The use of an American Southwest landform as inspiration, and inclusion of American walnut, along with the proportions of the table, made this piece comfortable and fitting for American ranch houses in particular. The freeform quality and low height encourage organic arrangements of objects. Conversely, the table acts as a stand-alone object, with the tiers harmoniously stacked upon one another. The choice of wood veneer as primary construction material indicates that the production of this table was labor-intensive. Paradoxically, this brilliant material choice resulted in a luxurious and effortless visual appearance.
Robsjohn-Gibbings was very candid with his critique of America’s enthusiasm for late eighteenth-century Georgian furniture reproductions and published a cheeky book titled, “Good-bye, Mr. Chippendale” in 1944. He was equally opposed to modernist designs that rejected ornamentation unrelated to an item's function. Robsjohn-Gibbings admired the work of Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore, which displayed organic impressions of movement and humanistic qualities.
He received private commissions through his showroom and the attention of his writing for magazines and books led to the first of many projects to design mass-produced furniture, specifically for Widdicomb Furniture Company, a large manufacturer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His work for Widdicomb, from 1946 to 1957, is reminiscent of modern Scandinavian designs, with sparse surface decorations and clean lines. His designs often included undulating curves and thoughtful embellishments. His approach to modern historicism was his trademark and can be seen through his sculptural and elegant designs. One of the pieces he produced for Widdicomb included the tiered, biomorphic Mesa Table, an icon of the era. This design was immediately recognized as a success and featured in Widdicomb’s showroom. It was also shown on the cover of House Beautiful in May 1952.
Christie's is honored to present the Mesa Table, Property from an Upper West Side, Manhattan, Collection. The table evokes mesa geographical features, which are the flat, elevated landforms with steep sides that are common in the American Southwest. Mesa landforms are evocative of tabletops, which is how they got their name (“Mesa” literally means “table” in Spanish). The table’s simplified lines and stacked curves highlight motion, balance, and grace and recall principles of Ancient Grecian and Art Deco styles. The Mesa Table was manufactured in three sizes, the present lot an example of the standard size available. The use of an American Southwest landform as inspiration, and inclusion of American walnut, along with the proportions of the table, made this piece comfortable and fitting for American ranch houses in particular. The freeform quality and low height encourage organic arrangements of objects. Conversely, the table acts as a stand-alone object, with the tiers harmoniously stacked upon one another. The choice of wood veneer as primary construction material indicates that the production of this table was labor-intensive. Paradoxically, this brilliant material choice resulted in a luxurious and effortless visual appearance.