Long Chair, 1951. Black walnut with cotton webbing and sea grass.
I’m looking forward to my next trip to Philadephia, and I hope it comes soon. Here’s why:
“Early Furniture by George Nakashima, 1936-1956 – The Architect Designs” opens Friday (Oct. 9) and runs through Dec. 24 at Moderne Gallery, 111 N. Third St. in Philadelphia.
With 65 pieces on display, the exhibit traces Nakashima’s early development as a furniture designer and maker, beginning with work he designed while working as an architect in the 1930s. Also on display will be furniture from his first commission, along with early post-war work, completed after his release from an internment camp for Japanese Americans.
Moderne director and Nakashima scholar Robert Aibel says the exhibit will offer a look at some rarely seen pieces. He also hopes viewers will get a broader understanding of how Nakashima’s influential ideas – among them the primacy of wood’s natural beauty, the use of slabs, live edges and sapwood – evolved.
The exhibit will also mark the debut of a new furniture line by Mira Nakashima, including several desks and tables produced from recently discovered drawings by her father. Several of those drawings will also be on display.
See you there!
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Long Chair, 1951. Black walnut with cotton webbing and sea grass.
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Chair and ottoman, 1937. Made for the modernist Golconde dormitory at the Sri Aurobindo ashram in India. Nakashima was one of the project's architects.
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Walnut slab coffee table, 1948. The piece shows the beginnings of more organic form.
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City Hall Desk, 1956. Walnut. The piece includes some signatures of Nakashima's mature work, including live edges and butterfly keys.
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