Warren McArthur Coffee and Cocktail Tables

Warren McArthur aluminum table with patinated wooden top.

Unusual Warren McArthur coffee table with architectural, machine age base and original formica black top. Signed underneath.

Warren McArthur Coffee table, model 1559-s Warren McArthur Corporation USA, c. 1930 enameled aluminum, laminate 18½ h × 30 dia in (47 × 76 cm) literature: Warren McArthur Corporation, Donnelly, pg. 50 Warren McArthur Jr. was an innovator in Machine Age/ Art Deco furniture design. McArthur moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1929 to pursue metal furniture manufacturing; he founded the Warren McArthur Corporation there in 1930. His furniture designs while unique were true to the Machine Age aesthetic. Machine Age design emphasized sleek forms inspired by automobiles, locomotives and airplanes. These objects were symbols of progress and modernity to the American consumer and industrial designers began constructing furniture in streamlined designs from steel, chrome and aluminum. Prior to the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, known as the “Century of Progress Exhibition.” The fair’s tagline, “See America Streamlined,” and the abundance of metal furniture and home goods exhibited finally presented the concept of utilizing metal designs in the typical American household. The Museum of Modern Art followed suit in subsequent years with exhibitions like "Machine Art," (1934), and "Bauhaus 1919-1928" (1938), further exposing the American public to this design style. The Warren McArthur Corporation moved manufacturing to Rome, New York in 1933, just as metal furniture was gaining popularity; the company’s products were sold out of a showroom in New York City on Park Avenue. As a manufacturer, McArthur filed numerous patent designs which he utilized in advertisements to exhibit the innovations he developed. The company also proudly printed patent numbers on furniture...

A ebonized and polished Aluminum side table by Warren McArthur. This side table is almost certainly from 1929, showing the prevalence of the triangle in McArthurs work around the tim...