Gerald Thurston Tri-Color Floor Lamp with Black, White and Red Shades, 1950s
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Gerald Thurston Tri-Color Floor Lamp with Black, White and Red Shades, 1950s
About the Item
- Creator:Gerald Thurston (Designer),Lightolier (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 64 in (162.56 cm)Diameter: 17 in (43.18 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:
- Seller Location:Bainbridge, NY
- Reference Number:Seller: 9750727161stDibs: f91391605164707343fs
Gerald Thurston
As the leading designer at Lightolier during the postwar building and design boom, Gerald Thurston created his clever lighting — sleek floor lamps, table lamps and desk lamps— to suit the American lifestyles of 1950s and 1960s. His designs were at the forefront of the mid-century modern lighting revolution — like much of the visionary work being done at the time in furniture and interiors, Thurston’s fixtures are both elegant and totally innovative, reflecting the exploration of new ideas and new technology that consumed designers of the era.
Thurston eventually led a stellar team of international lighting designers at Lightolier. He was important to the pioneering East Coast-based electric lighting company, and rumor has it that because he sketched every design on craft paper, the manufacturer insured his right hand for one million American dollars.
While enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago during the 1930s, where he earned his degree in industrial design, Thurston worked as a freelance designer for the Zenith Radio Corporation. Once he graduated, he found a position at the New Metal Craft Company. There he designed custom lighting fixtures and decorative objects for architects and interior designers.
Lightolier enticed Thurston to join them in approximately 1950. That same year, New York’s Museum of Modern Art featured a green floor lamp of his in their Good Design Exhibition of 1950. The sculptural lamps that Thurston created for Lightolier are representative of his interest in Scandinavian modernist lighting as well as the revolutionary designs produced by postwar Italian companies such as Arredoluce and Arteluce. (Lightolier partnered with the latter, and Thurston found inspiration in the work of Arteluce founder Gino Sarfatti.)
During Thurston’s decades-long tenure with Lightolier, he became internationally known for his many designs. His modernist fixtures are characterized by clean lines, vibrant colors and an appealing meld of metals and rich woods. His slender-legged Lightolier Tripod floor lamp, introduced in the 1960s, garnered widespread acclaim, while his whimsical Cricket lamp, with its arthropodan shade and slim brass frame, is wholly versatile — it can be hung as a sconce or positioned on a desk and offers direct or diffused light.
On 1stDibs, find vintage Gerald Thurston lighting, decorative objects and more.
Lightolier
Founded in 1904 in New York and family-operated through most of its history, Lightolier was one of the pioneering American electric lighting companies, best known for its embrace of stylistic and technical innovations.
Collectors focus on vintage Lightolier lighting fixtures produced from the 1950s and into the 1970s, when an in-house design team led by Gerald Thurston — and a stellar cast of international design contributors — created an array of practical yet aesthetically lively table lamps, floor lamps, sconces and chandeliers.
Amidst the post-World War II building boom, Lightolier — the name combines “light” and “chandelier” — aggressively boosted its residential lighting division. Thurston, who was strongly influenced by the sleek designs of Gino Sarfatti and his Italian lighting firm Arteluce, towards simpler lamp designs that offered flexibility of function. His best-known designs include the Cricket task light — a lamp with an adjustable enameled metal hood that toggles on a slender bent-metal base — and the three-legged Tripod floor lamp. At the same time, Thurston had a wonderful eye for talent and sought work from some of the lesser-known greats of the era, such as Paavo Tynell, the Finnish lighting designer, who designed several brass chandeliers for Lightolier with his trademark elegant flamboyance.
And more, Thurston recognized abilities in designers not known for their work in lighting.
Edward Wormley, head of furniture design for Dunbar, produced several noteworthy chandeliers employing canisters and reflective hoods. Alvin Lustig was famed as a graphic designer. His ca. 1953 Ring ceiling fixture for Lightolier had a minimalist techno look some 30 years ahead of its time. But this was par. Designed by Michael Lax in 1964, the Lytegem high-intensity lamp — included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art — features a ball-shaped shade attached with a chromed armature to a cubic base, a form that would be widely copied in the following decade. Chandeliers designed in the early 1970s by Gaetano Sciolari, with details such as acrylic diffusers and vertical, two-bulb arms, would define the look of lighting in their day.
A look through these pages reveals just how astonishingly wide a range of lighting pieces Lightolier produced. The company never flicked off its stylistic switch.
Find a collection of vintage Lightolier lamps and other lighting fixtures on 1stDibs.
- Gerald Thurston for Lightolier Brass Tripod Floor Lamp, 1950sBy Gerald Thurston, LightolierLocated in Bainbridge, NYEarly Gerald Thurston for Lightolier Brass Tripod Reading Floor Lamp with White Linen Shade. Featuring a joined tripod, three legged patinated Brass framework, Off-White enameled dif...Category
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- Tall Walnut & White Enamel Floor Lamp with Double Shades, 1950sBy Gerald ThurstonLocated in Bainbridge, NYGerald Thurston style Double Shade Reading Floor Lamp in Walnut & White Enamel with Brass accents. Featuring a White enameled tubular metal column, cone neck, Walnut handle detail an...Category
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- Pair Gerald Thurston Black Iron Tripod Table Lamps with Milk Glass ShadesBy Gerald Thurston, LightolierLocated in Bainbridge, NYPair of Gerald Thurston for Lightolier black and white table lamps, 1950s. Featuring balanced black enameled steel tripod legs, socket and neck, white milk glass liner shades atop ro...Category
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- Gerald Thurston, Lightolier Style Walnut, Brass & Glass Side Table Floor LampBy Gerald ThurstonLocated in Bainbridge, NYGerald Thurston for Lightolier attributed Walnut and Brass Combination Side Table Floor Lamp, 1950s. Small footprint. Featuring a tubular Brass hourglass frame, doweled Walnut centre...Category
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- Gerald Thurston Brass Tri Pod Floor LampBy Gerald Thurston, LightolierLocated in New York, NYMid-century classic streamlined brass tripod floor lamp with linen shade. Some patina to brass, professionally rewired for use in the USA. Lamp uses 3 bulbs. Shade not included. Shad...Category
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- 1950s Torchère Floor Lamp by Gerald Thurston for LightolierBy Gerald Thurston, LightolierLocated in Sagaponack, NYClassic uplight torchère floor lamp with three vertical brass rods supporting a shallow brass bowl and wider glass shade. The base designed by Gerald Thurston with a textured, fire a...Category
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- 1950s Black Enameled Steel & Brass Floor Lamp by Gerald Thurston for LightolierBy Gerald Thurston, LightolierLocated in Sagaponack, NYBlack enameled steel floor lamp with three brass arms holding a perforated steel reflector and shade.Category
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- 1950s Gerald Thurston Floor Lamp for LightolierBy Gerald ThurstonLocated in Esperance, NY1950s Gerald Thurston floor lamp for Lightolier.Category
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- Gerald Thurston Lightolier Floor LampBy Gerald Thurston, LightolierLocated in New York, NYClassic Mid Century floor lamp, designed by Gerald Thurston , manufactured by Lightolier, circa 1950/1960's. This example features a sculpted tri pod base of solid brass, solid walnu...Category
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