Neal Small has been an important inspiration for designers and decorators thanks to his iconic multifaceted-mirrored grids and collages. As a result, original signed pieces are both rare and highly desired by the cognoscenti. As reproductions and knock-offs are ubiquitous, we are especially excited to be offering two examples of Slopes both signed and numbered by the artist.

Although she was accepted and recognized by her peers during her era of production, the male-dominated canon of art and design has unjustifiably neglected Elaine Katzer’s unique contribution to sculpture. Working in California, and other areas of South Western United States, Katzer reinterpreted and refashioned the totem pole and the sculpted fountain. Her oeuvre is characterized by a consistent natural palette of earth tones. Both her domestically proportioned sculptures and outdoor installations allude to earlier civilizations such as prehistoric carved stone tools. There has been a recent revived interest and respect for her work, such as public projects and installations on the West Coast. Individual, domestically proportioned works are extremely rare and coveted.

With a career spanning over half a century, Phillip Lloyd Powell produced unique and powerful pieces in wood with timeless appeal, characterized by his expert carving.  Although often overshadowed by George Nakashima, and his prodigy / colleague, Paul Evans, Powell merits equal recognition. His creative process always respects the integrity of the wood, allowing it to dictate the form. His creations embrace the wood’s grain and knots rather than attempt to efface natural irregularities. His pieces express a range of emotions from playful and irreverent to serene and subdued. He often incorporates found elements, both sentimental objects and ephemera, and accentuates pieces with chromium pop colors and gilding. Todd Merrill has long championed Powell’s creations, both recent and vintage works.

The grand master of intricately superimposed geometric shapes has recently caught the attention of art connoisseurs. He is now rightfully considered an artist and a sculptor, in addition to a furniture designer. The examples presented at the Modernism show are from the most sought-after periods from Evans’ career and are paradigms of studio artistry. The dramatic, over-sized Sculpted Front Console, signed and dated 1965, showcases Evans’ colorful abstract sculptural creations. The tall cabinet, from 1974, and the impressive round table, from 1966, are shining examples from the Argente series. Connoisseurs of Evans’ work can appreciate that these pieces, experiments in metal patchwork, were precursors to the Cityscape series. As in many of Evans’ creations the aesthetics and composition demonstrate a convergence of metallurgy expertise with the details and refinement of jewelry. Skills he refined at the prestigious Cranbrook Academy of Art. After his studies, Evans would spend most of his career working in the renowned artist community of New Hope, Pennsylvania. Both the console and the table are topped with a handsome and striking, solid slices of local slate. Philip Lloyd Powell, another furniture designer/artist, was an important friend and mentor to Evans. We are pleased to also be offering, a grand early collaboration between the two, a custom console and hanging cabinet.

Born in Louisiana, Samuel Marx’s childhood included the usual steppingstones of privileged southern life, including preparatory school and a degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He spent the next two years studying at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, including a grand tour visiting classical sites that provided him with a lifetime of inspiration.

Marx, based in Chicago from 1910 until 1962, designed mainly for a circle of private and corporate clients, among them financier J. Paul Getty, the actor/art collector Edward G. Robinson, the interiors of May Department Store Co., along with many private residences. Marx was renowned for his synergy of traditional cabinet-making techniques and sumptuous materials with reductive forms.

A dedicated painter himself, Marx integrated art and furnishings with a consummate skill that showed off the art without compromising livability and comfort. He achieved a high level of quality and stylistic consistency that he maintained through a long career due in part to the way he worked. The Chicago furniture maker William J. Quigley produced nearly all the furniture Marx designed.

His ability to translate European art trends into classical furniture forms felt distinctly American. It would be a mistake, however, to classify Marx’s designs as derivative deco or moderne. His silhouettes were at once more robust and subtler. Marx preferred solid American woods, such as oak and burled elm deployed in matched cuts and strong grains to show they too could look opulent and refined. His palette was sophisticated but decidedly neutral, he opted for luxurious but restrained finishes: silver-leaf, lacquered white parchment, pearly kappa shell, and cracquelaire leather (suggesting the glazing on an antique Chinese vase).

Samuel Marx looked both to the past and the future in his designs to achieve a modern classicism that was both richly resonant in its materials but distinctly American in its robustness. His relatively narrow scope of materials were refined, rarely flashy and served him well in his art-influenced approach, in which the demands of proportion and aesthetic control were always balanced against comfort and livability.

German born Tommi Parzinger settled in New York City in 1935, opening his first showroom, Parzinger Inc. in 1939. Re-christened Parzinger Originals in 1946, his showroom became a mecca for style conscious café society, and continued to supply the most discerning clientele for several decades.

Parzinger is renowned for his crisp, tailored furniture and exquisite old world craftsmanship. Trained as a painter, in metalwork, ceramics, glass and furniture design, Parzinger melded his talents into refined modern furniture with elegant detailing. Handmade pulls, metal studs and brass outlines gave his high style modern furniture a sense of luxury that most modern furniture designers eschewed in favor of severe lines.

A favorite among decorators like Billy Baldwin, and with clients such as Marilyn Monroe, the Ford and DuPont families.

Paolo Venini, a Milanese lawyer and businessman, started his glassworks company in Murano, Italy in 1921. Venini started the company with Giacomo Cappelin, an antiques dealer, and Vittorio Zecchin, a painter under the name Vetri Soffiati Muranesi Cappellin Venini & C.  After several years Cappelin and Zecchin split from the firm, and Paolo Venini continued under the name it’s known as today: Venini & C.

Venini brought on board architects and artists such as Napoleone Martinuzzi, Carlo Scarpa and Fulvio Bianconi as art directors, and the company was able to break from traditional Venetian glass production, enabling him to use new techniques, colors and forms that would earn the firm critical acclaim and countless design awards.

Rooted in the traditional Venetian free-hand glass blown forms, his inspirations, however, were unique among the Venetian glass houses. With his finger on the pulse of decorative arts, Venini sought to employ current trends, forms and techniques with the help of his talented artistic directors and designers. The company was able to innovate techniques like bollicine—developed by Carlo Scarpa that was an extension of pulegoso, a technique that resulted in bubble-filled glass that Martinuzzi created in the late 1920s.

Throughout the decades several international and local designers contributed to the Venini name, such as: Tappio Wirkkala, the Finnish ceramicist, the fashion designer Pierre Cardin, and Dale Chihuly.  Venini’s participation with the group of architects known as ‘Labirinto’ (Labrynth)—a group formed with the purpose of promoting the decorative arts—allowed him to collaborate with such notable architects and designers as Gio Ponti who started the design magazines Domus and Stile, and Pietro Chiesa who worked for the firm Fontana Arte.

Venini’s innovative approach to glass production involved meaningful collaborations with international designers, architects and artists. Venini fostered a harmonious style that blossomed into a trademark design.

Lavish and tasteful describe Mont's style, whose labor intensive lacquer and gilt finishes are hallmarks of his Asian inspired modernism. A favorite among Hollywood stars and notorious figures of the underworld, Mont's pieces continue to exude bold confidence in interiors today. The ultimate showman, James Mont's flair for theatrics in dealing with his clients and several run ins with the law sometimes led to greater infamy than his glamorous, custom interiors brought fame.

Mont's work is highly sought after and collected by an elite group of aficionados who appreciate his brilliant creativity and lavish production.