A 1930s commission for a newfangled table produced a Modernist masterpiece
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As the wave of Modernism captured the creative imagination in the late 1930s, the president of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, A Conger Goodyear, asked sculptor Isamu Noguchi (above) to design a coffee table for his weekender in Long Island.
The result was innovative in two ways. First, coffee tables were new arrivals in the living room, ideal for the streamlined sofas then finding favour. Joseph Aronson, author of The Encyclopedia of Furniture, defined the coffee table in 1938 as: “A low, wide table now used before a sofa or couch. There is no historical precedent.”
Second, Noguchi’s knee-level newcomer of 1939 wasn’t just any table. Glass-topped on a rosewood base and with sleek, organic lines, it eschewed the right angle. “Everything is sculpture” was Noguchi’s mantra.
This story is from the February 2018 edition of Australian House & Garden Magazine.
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This story is from the February 2018 edition of Australian House & Garden Magazine.
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