Art Deco Articulating Desk Lamp. 1939 NYWF Rare Simulated Metal Leather
By Donald Deskey
Located in Peoria, AZ
Rare and Striking!
Art Deco Metal & Brass
Articulating Desk Lamp
With Faux Leather Enamel
Circa 1939
At the time of the New York World's Fair of 1939, designers architects and engineers were all inspired to bring about and summon "The Future!" This extremely rare lamp is a great example of the designs, ideas and aesthetic of this momentous period!
Here an articulating brass banded drum shade swivels on a great expansive brass arch! Arches added a sense of drama and importance to an object and were used very successfully in this time period to bring both formality and dynamism to furnishings!
This drum shade beams light where desired and it is covered with an enamel pattern designed to look like leather. This element is very rare and is one of the first industrial age examples of decorating metals and plastics with "natural" patterns. This would become fairly common place decades later as the "wood" trim on cars was decorative plastic and before that, contact paper was introduced to a design conscious public.
At this time, several extremely high end desk lamp designs featured leather wrappings, particularly those coming out of Europe, who were still employing more handmade furnishings. So this design feature was not just a random whim, but an effort to convey "old world" imagery to a very industrialized product.
Now, almost 85 years later, as most leather wrapped lamps...
Category
Vintage 1930s American Art Deco Table Lamps
