New Life for the Noble Tree: Masterworks by George Nakashima 'Sotheby's'
About the Item
- Creator:Sotheby's (Manufacturer),George Nakashima (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 10.75 in (27.31 cm)Width: 8.25 in (20.96 cm)Depth: 0.25 in (6.35 mm)
- Style:American Craftsman (In the Style Of)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:2006
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Minor bumping to extremities.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU828533607112
George Nakashima
A master woodworker and M.I.T.-trained architect, George Nakashima was the leading light of the American Studio furniture movement. Along with Wharton Esherick, Sam Maloof and Wendell Castle, Nakashima was an artisan who disdained industrial methods and materials in favor of a personal, craft-based approach to the design. What sets Nakashima apart is the poetic style of his work, his reverence for wood and the belief that his furniture could evince — as he put it in the title of his 1981 memoir — The Soul of a Tree.
Born in Spokane, Washington, to Japanese immigrants, Nakashima traveled widely after college, working and studying in Paris, Japan and India, and at every stop he absorbed both modernist and traditional design influences. The turning point in Nakashima’s career development came in the United States in 1942, when he was placed in an internment camp for Asian-Americans in Idaho. There, Nakashima met a master woodcarver who tutored him in Japanese crafting techniques. A former employer won Nakashima’s release and brought him to bucolic New Hope, Pennsylvania, where Nakashima set up a studio and worked for the rest of his life.
Nakashima’s singular aesthetic is best captured in his custom-made tables and benches — pieces that show off the grain, burls and whorls in a plank of wood. He left the “free edge,” or natural contour, of the slab un-planed, and reinforced fissures in the wood with “butterfly” joints. Almost all Nakashima seating pieces have smooth, milled edges. Nakashima also contracted with large-scale manufacturers to produce carefully supervised editions of his designs. Knoll has offered his Straight chair — a modern take on the spindle-backed Windsor chair — since 1946; the now-defunct firm Widdicomb-Mueller issued the Shaker-inspired Origins collection in the 1950s.
Nelson Rockefeller in 1973 gave Nakashima his single largest commission: a 200-piece suite for his suburban New York estate. Today, Nakashima furniture is collected by both the staid and the fashionable: his work sits in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as in the homes of Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt, Diane von Furstenberg and the late Steve Jobs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: New York, NY
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- Nature, Form & Spirit: The Life and Legacy of George NakashimaBy George Nakashima, Mira NakashimaLocated in New York, NYFirst edition of Mira Nakashima’s tribute to her father, George, whose standing as one of America’s foremost designer/craftsmen is reflected in his blue-chip status in the vintage de...Category
Early 2000s American American Craftsman Books
MaterialsPaper
- George Nakashima Woodworker Catalog with Price ListBy George Nakashima WoodworkersLocated in New York, NYCatalog of offerings from renowned craft woodworker George Nakashima, published circa 1990. 4to, 24 pages (unpaginated), photographic wrappers, illustrated with b/w sketches and phot...Category
1990s American American Craftsman Books
MaterialsPaper
- Superstudio, Life Without ObjectsBy SuperstudioLocated in New York, NYFirst edition of this scholarly study of the influential Florentine avant-garde architectural collective Superstudio, a driving force in the Radical architecture and design movement ...Category
Early 2000s Italian Post-Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- Saara Hopea-Untracht: Life and WorkBy Saara Hopea-UntrachtLocated in New York, NYMonograph on renowned and prolific mid-century Finnish designer Saara Hopea-Untracht, written by her husband, the American metalsmith, educator, and writer...Category
Vintage 1980s Finnish Scandinavian Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- Behind the Picture Window by Bernard RudofskyBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in New York, NYFirst edition of Bernard Rudofsky’s idiosyncratic and iconoclastic discussion of modern living conditions in postwar America, published by Oxford University Press in 1955. 201 pages, 8vo, hardcover with pictorial dust jacket. Several black-and-white illustrations. Rudofsky (1905-1988), an Austrian/American architect, curator, critic, industrial designer, exhibition designer, fashion designer, and author is best-known for his controversial exhibitions and accompanying catalogs, including Are Clothes Modern? (MoMA, 1944), Architecture Without Architects (MoMA, 1964), and Now I Lay Me Down to Eat (Cooper-Hewitt, 1980). He is also famous for his mid-century Bernardo sandal designs, which are popular again today. Behind the Picture Window...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Books
MaterialsPaper
- Art and the Machine Book by Sheldon and Martha CheneyBy Donald DeskeyLocated in New York, NYSeminal early consideration of Machine Age design and architecture in America, tracking the rise of the industrial design profession, written by Sheldon and Martha Cheney and publish...Category
Vintage 1930s American Machine Age Books
MaterialsPaper
- Sotheby's Art at Auction, the Art Market in Review 1993-94 by Sotheby's, 1st EdBy Sotheby'sLocated in valatie, NYSotheby's Art at Auction - The Art Market in Review 1993-1994 by Sotheby's. Hightlights: "The Property of a Lady" by Ian Fleming a James Bond short story (commissioned by Sotheby's in 1963), Klimt (Dame mit Facher), David Smith (Cubi V), Harry Winston diamond necklace...Category
1990s English Books
MaterialsPaper
- 7 Sotheby's New York Pre-Columbian Sales Catalogs 1993 -1997By Sotheby'sLocated in Stamford, CTA group of seven Sotheby's New York Pre-Columbian sales catalogs with lavish color photos. An invaluable reference for the collector, scholar or anyone interested in Pre-Columbian a...Category
1990s Pre-Columbian Books
MaterialsPaper
- Art At Auction The Year At Sotheby's 1980-1981By Sotheby'sLocated in valatie, NYArt At Auction The Year At Sotheby's 1980-1981, by Sotheby's. Published by Sotheby Publications, 1981. 1st Ed hardcover with dust jacket. This annual reference work provides a view o...Category
Vintage 1980s English Books
MaterialsPaper
- Sotheby's Summer Travel New Grand Tour, Aspen, Basel & Dukes of NorthumberlandBy Sotheby'sLocated in valatie, NYSotheby's Summer Travel The New Grand Tour, Aspen, Basel and More The Dukes Of Northumberland 500 Years Of Collecting, June-July 2014 London and New York. Published by Sotheby's, 2014. 1st Ed softcover. Beautifully illustrated catalog with great information on museums, books on travel, summertime attractions in NYC, Aspen Art...Category
21st Century and Contemporary English Books
MaterialsPaper
- Sotheby's British Art Pottery, Martin Brothers, the Harriman Judd CollectionBy Sotheby'sLocated in valatie, NYSotheby's British Art Pottery, Martin Brothers, The Harriman Judd Collection, New York, January 22, 2001. Softcover auction catalog. 497 Lots on 196 Pages – All Described and illustrated in color. the Harriman Judd Collection of British Art Pottery, the finest, most comprehensive collection of this type ever to come up for auction. Taken from the California home of the late Allen Harriman and Edward Judd the sale includes 800 lots of British Art Pottery, Studio Pottery and Majolica with estimates ranging from $200-$80,000. Harriman and Judd began collecting in the 1970’s and the collection they amassed largely over a ten-year period provides an in-depth survey of 130 years of British Art Pottery from all of the major factories working in this period. With objects ranging in size from 3 inches to 6ft. tall, potteries and artist potters highlighted include: Doulton Lambeth, the Martin Brothers, William Moorcroft, George Tinworth, Hannah Barlow, Mark Marshall...Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Books
MaterialsPaper
- The Travel Sale: Natural History and Maps. November 2001: Sotheby's LondonBy Sotheby'sLocated in valatie, NYThe Travel Sale: Natural History and Maps. November 2001: Sotheby's London. 1st Ed softcover. Lots 1-16; New Zealand 17-22; China Trade and Far East Asia 23-51; India 52-74; Africa 7...Category
21st Century and Contemporary English Books
MaterialsPaper