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Pair of Harvey Probber High Back Chairs Wormley Estate Weston ct

About the Item

Pair of Harvey Probber high back wing chairs, important with very few made and from the Edward Wormley estate in Weston ct. Edward Wormley (American, December 31, 1907–November 3, 1995) was a noted furniture designer. Wormley began his education at the New York School of Interior Design through correspondence while he was still in high school. He went on to attend the Art Institute of Chicago from 1926 to 1928. In 1931, after studying at the institute, and taking a tour through Europe, Wormley was an interior designer at the Marshall Fields & Company department store. Soon thereafter, he left Marshall Fields to work for the Dunbar Furniture Company in Berne, IN, where he designed both traditional and modern furniture. In 1944, he was placed at the forefront of Dunbar's efforts to modernize its furniture lines. Wormley's modernization efforts incorporated design elements from a variety of European and Scandinavian sources, updating classic designs with modern innovations. Wormley's designs fit with the changing Modernist look of American mid-21st century interiors. By 1950, Wormley had gained enough notice to be included in the Museum of Modern Art and Merchandise Mart's Good Design Exhibition. Notable works by Wormley include his tile-topped tables, designed for the Dunbar Furniture Company's Janus line of furnishings in 1957, and a tufted sofa with large arms, designed during the middle of the 1960s. Wormley's body of work spans 50 years, extending from his earliest efforts in plain surface design in 1930 through his years at Dunbar as their director of design, until Dunbar was sold in 1970. He has been widely recognized as one of the pioneers of furniture innovation in the mid-20th century, which is made evident through the many awards he received. These awards include the Elsie de Wolfe award from the American Institute of Decorators in 1962, the Total Design award in 1978 and the Designer of Distinction award in 1982, both from the American Society of Interior Directors, and the Distinguished Designer award from The American Society of Furniture Designers in 1986. Wormley’s work was shown several times in major exhibitions, including at the Boston Museum of Art in 1951, the Triennale XIII in Milan in 1964, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1983. His designs can be found in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Montreal. Wormley died on November 3, 1995.

Creator:

Harvey Probber (Designer)

Dimensions:

Height: 37.5 in (95.25 cm)Width: 3.5 in (8.89 cm)Depth: 29 in (73.66 cm)Seat Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)

Sold As:

Set of 2

Style:

Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Fabric,Foam,Walnut,Hand-Woven,Lacquered

Place of Origin:

United States

Period:

Mid-20th Century

Date of Manufacture:

1955-1960

Condition:

Wear consistent with age and use. They are in restored condition .look beautiful.

Seller Location:

Westport, CT

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU910819625162

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Shop All Harvey Probber

Harvey Probber

A popular designer who had his heyday from the late 1940s into the 1970s, Harvey Probber is one of the post-war American creative spirits whose work has been recently rediscovered by collectors. His designs are by-and-large simple and elegant, but his signal achievement was to pioneer one of the key innovations of mid-20th century furniture: sectional, or modular, seating.

Even as a teenager, the Brooklyn-born Probber was making sketches of furniture designs — and selling them to Manhattan furniture companies. He began working as a designer for an upholsterer once he finished high school and, apart from a few evening classes he took as an adult at the Pratt Institute, he was self-taught about design and furniture making.

After wartime service — and a stint as a lounge singer — Probber founded his own company in the late 1940s. A lifelong familiarity with the needs of New York–apartment dwellers doubtless sparked his most noteworthy creation: a line of seating pieces in basic geometric shapes — wedges, squares, half-circles — that could be arranged and combined as needed. Modular furniture remained the core idea of Probber’s business throughout his career.

As a self-trained designer, Probber was never wed to any particular aesthetic. He preferred simple lines for their inherent practicality, but often used hardware to enliven the look of his pieces, or added elements — such as a ceramic insert in the center of a round dining table — that was visually interesting and could serve as a trivet. He gravitated toward bright fabrics with attractive, touchable textures that might be satin-like or nubbly. Above all, Probber insisted that the products that came out of his Fall River, Massachusetts, factory be built to last.

“The quality of aging gracefully,” Probber once told an interviewer, is “design's fourth dimension.” This quality he realized: Probber furniture is just as useful and alluring now as it was when made — and maybe even more stylish.

Find a collection of vintage Harvey Probber side tables, sectional sofas, chairs and other furniture on 1stDibs.