Playful, sculptural, unexpected: Illustrious designer and decorator John Dickinson created interiors, lighting fixtures, seating and other furnishings that were wholly peculiar and unlike anything seen before. The Berkeley, California, native mined design movements of bygone eras for elements he would later integrate into what would become his signature anthropomorphic work.
Dickinson was inspired by Art Deco designers such as Jean-Michel Frank, who similarly drew on the past for his extravagant pieces, and found appeal in the claw-foot tables and seating that Georgian-era furniture makers produced.
Although Dickinson attended the Parsons School of Design in New York, he returned to the West Coast following graduation. He worked for decorating firms and furniture stores, and, in 1956, he set up his own practice in San Francisco, where he reinterpreted heritage in his sculptural lamps, stools and chairs with legs that terminate in hooves or resemble bones and tree branches.
Dickinson’s spare but sophisticated furniture is often associated with a “golden age” of San Francisco decorating that includes the work of designers Charles Pfister and Michael Taylor. Wider recognition over the years owes to collectors’ interest and exhibits such as “Fantasy and Function: The Furniture of John Dickinson,” which opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2003.
Despite his irreverent approach, Dickinson’s pieces were luxury items. He crafted lamps of unpolished brass and tables in chalky white plaster with a resin coating. His most iconic works are his Etruscan tables with legs resembling hooved animal feet and his Three-Legged African table, which was inspired by an artifact he discovered in an import shop. Dickinson took on only handpicked, young, well-to-do clients who were willing to give him free rein to experiment with these unusual forms and industrial materials. Leading department stores like Lord & Taylor, however, were also among his clientele. In 1977, Dickinson was commissioned to design a furniture collection for Macy’s. It featured white lacquered bookcases that drew on urban architecture and table lamps with bodies that mimicked animal bones.
Owing to his untimely death, and the fact that he worked in plaster, a highly breakable material, few of Dickinson’s original pieces exist to this day. Their scarcity renders every remaining Dickinson design a valuable heirloom guaranteed to make a statement in any room.
Find vintage John Dickinson furniture on 1stDibs.
$14,700
John Dickinson Sculpture
By John Dickinson
Located in Chicago, IL
Driftwood sculpture selected by John Dickinson for the Historic Firehouse, San Francisco. Placed in John's bedroom on the same cases shown, (also available) Custom brass display mount...
Brass
Large French Neoclassical Style Plaster Hand Sculpture
By John Dickinson, Sirmos, Serge Roche, Dorothy Draper
Located in Houston, TX
Large French Neoclassical Style Plaster Hand Sculpture. Unusually large and well detailed Neoclassical Roman plaster hand sculpture. This vintage French academic plaster hand sculpt...
Plaster
John Torreano Contemporary Sculpture of a Jewel
By John Torreano
Located in New York, NY
This faceted, geometric sculpture by the contemporary New York artist John Torreano dates to the mid-1980s.
Paint
Giovanni 'John’ Bucci Metal Art Sculpture, 1960s
Located in Savannah, GA
Giovanni 'John' Bucci (Italian-American, 1935-2019) A welded metal sculpture composed of various found metal pieces, 1960s. 20 inches wide by 24 inches tall by 8 ½ inches deep
Metal
$1,440Sale Price|20% Off
H 7.75 in W 18 in D 14 in
John Dickinson Hand Carved Maple Burl Wood Sculptural Bowl, 1997
By John Dickinson
Located in Atlanta, GA
A fantastic live edge organic sculpture constructed from a solid piece of maple burl wood. Modern style with a heavy weight, spikes to side and recessed bowl to center. Signed to bottom 1997. Biography: John Dickinson was born and raised in Delaware. During and immediately after high school, John worked with contractors as a framer building houses in the Wilmington area. From 1978 to 1982, John served the country in the US Coast Guard. In 1985, after earning a BA in geography with a minor in photography at the University of Delaware...
Maple
Large John Bingham Handblown Glass Sculpture Centrepiece
By John Bingham
Located in South Charleston, WV
John Bingham, Glassblower, Artist circa 1980 Handblown glass Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Measures: 8 tall x 17 wide x 13 inches deep. One of 2 pieces by this artist we have liste...
Glass
John Risley Metal Sculpture
By John Risley
Located in St.Petersburg, FL
An unusual sculpture by John Risley, circa 1960s. Could be hung or stand on a pedestal.
John Balossi Ceramic Sculpture Of A Horse
Located in Guaynabo, PR
John Balossi was an Italian-American born in New York in May, 1931 and died on April, 2007 in Puerto Rico where he lived since 1960. He was a very well known painter and sculptor. He...
Clay
Wood Sculpture Depicting John the Baptist
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
This wood scultpure showing fine traces of polychromy depicts John the Baptist, one the Old Testament’s last prophets and the first martyr of the New Testament. He is easily recognizable with the lamb he is carrying in his left hand. The way the artist has carved the face exudes a spiritual strenght inherited from previous centuries. Description Saint John the Baptist is depicted bare feet, seated in a hieratic manner. His elongated face is marked by a beard and a moustache. The straight nose and wide eyes indicate a Spanish origin. This asumption is reaffirmed by the Saint’s resigned expression. His parted hair frames his face while uncovering his ears. He wears a round collar red-orange tunic, draped onto the body and belted at the waist. A flap of his green coat covers his knees and falls down in stylized pleats. Following iconographic rules Saint John the Baptist is pointing with his right hand the lamb seated...
Wood
John Andersson, Small Sculpture, Stoneware, Sweden, 1950s
By John Andersson
Located in High Point, NC
A brown-glazed stoneware sculpture designed by John Andersson and produced by Höganäs Keramik c. 1950s. “HOGANAS KERAMIK” stamp on bottom
Stoneware
John Richard Brass Ginkgo Leaves Sculpture
Located in Dallas, TX
This listing features brass Gingko Leaves sculpture that sits on a marble base. Gingko leaves come from a Gingko biloba tree, commonly used as a dietary supplement. Founded in 1980 ...
Marble, Brass
Small John Bingham Handblown Glass Sculpture Centrepiece
By John Bingham
Located in South Charleston, WV
John Bingham, glassblower, artist, circa 1980 Handblown glass Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Measures: 6 tall x 10 wide and 11 inches deep. One of 2 pieces by this artist we have li...
Glass
John Sebastian Marchese Terracotta Bust Sculpture
Located in Miami, FL
A unique hand modeled terracotta sculpture by John Sebastian Marchese. Wood base.
Terracotta