Ralph Rapson "Model 657" Rocker

Conceived at the end of the 1930s, but first produced in 1945/1946 by Knoll, the "Model 657" rocking chair demonstrates Rapson's originality and prescient grasp of the New Look. His ideas were among the most forward-looking of his already innovative peer-group (Rapson's classmates at Cranbrook included such luminaries as Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, and Florence Knoll). Rapson's Case Study house was never built, but this marvellous chair was produced at around the same time and it is no less adventurous. An exceedingly rare and beautiful piece.



Literature:



Steven and Linda Rouland, Knoll Furniture, 1938-1960, Atglen, PA, 1999, p. 41; Jane King Hession et al., Ralph Rapson: Sixty Years of Modern Design, Afton, Minnesota, 1999, p. 83