Art Deco Streamline Moderne Metal Lounge Chairs Norman Bel Geddes Simmons Red

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Art Deco Streamline Moderne Metal Lounge Chairs Norman Bel Geddes Simmons Red

About the Item

Rare set of enameled steel lounge chairs designed by Norman Bel Geddes in 1929. The Simmons Company enjoyed a reputation as the leading seller of steel furniture throughout the interwar years (1920s-1930s), having introduced the first metal bedroom ensemble in the world in 1923 followed by a successful advertising campaign marketed towards the upper middle-class market. With sales exceeding $50 million during the height of their popularity, it is tempting to translate the company’s success into the eager adoption of streamlined steel furniture by a wealthy middle-class during the interwar period, but the avant-garde designs by bel geddes were actually too Modern for the larger audience and were actually outsoles many times over by the steel reproductions of Windsor, Chippendale, and Sheraton styles. “chromopathic” enamel finishes instead.2 The Simmons Company production were almost always enameled in color finishes or in wood-imitating enamel in Mahogany, Chestnut, American Walnut, or Maple. Both finishes camouflaged or subdued the look and feel of steel, removing the sleek, industrial finish promoted by streamlined design. Even the Bel Geddes design seen here has a warm, kidney bean -colored enamel (mimicking cherrywood). The Bel Geddes designs remained nearly absent from most Simmons advertisements and records, until the post-war period when the company launched its “Modernization Bureau.” Coinciding with this American resistance to modern form was a strong resistance to the look of steel itself, a modern ‘iindustrial’ material. The enameled coating was so integral to the sales of their production that Simmons actually based an entire ad campaign on the ‘chromopathic’ health benefits of their furniture. They especially stressed the psychosomatic necessity of a “restful bedroom” based on color. “The nervous system responds to color very much as it does to music,” claimed Simmons’ Color Therapy manual. “The mind craves something more positive than barren white, with its suggestion of winter coldness. It needs objects of interest, and above all the warmth and repose that color alone can furnish.” The rejection of the visible characteristics of industrial steel as well as the ‘modern’ deco aesthetics of the public sphere (I.e. skyscrapers, bullet-trains, etc.) reflect not only the genuine reluctance to accept the infiltration of industrialization within the most private space of the home but also how Avant Garde and ground-breaking the work of Bel Geddes and other streamline moderne designers was prior to the outbreak of WWII.

Creator:
Simmons Company Furniture (Maker),Norman Bel Geddes (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 34 in (86.36 cm)Width: 23 in (58.42 cm)Depth: 37 in (93.98 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 2
Style:
Art Deco (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Aluminum
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1930-1939
Date of Manufacture:
1930s
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Good to fair vintage verging on antique condition. Patina to metal. Retain original armrests, springs & Simmons labels. Cushions not included but we’d be happy to work with you to have them custom-made and delivered with your chairs. Just let us know.
Seller Location:
Brooklyn, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU4190315291841

Shop All Simmons Company Furniture

Simmons Company Furniture

Best known for industrial and Art Deco style metal furniture, Simmons Company Furniture was among the leading manufacturers and sellers of steel furniture from the early to mid-20th century.

In 1923, the Chicago-based furniture firm captured international attention when it introduced the world’s first bedroom suite made of steel. This innovative approach to design made waves throughout the furniture manufacturing industry, which, at the time, produced primarily wooden furniture.

Towards the late 1920s, Simmons Company Furniture began collaborating with American modernist industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes. Bel Geddes was renowned for his sleek, streamlined, futuristic style, seen in Electrolux appliances, radios for Philco and RCA and the aerodynamic Chrysler Airflow. Bel Geddes was also the designer behind the famed General Motors “Futurama” exhibition at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

For Simmons, Bel Geddes designed a steel bedroom furniture ensemble in 1929, including an enameled steel vanity, bed frame and dresser, each with chrome-finished accents. In 1933, Simmons exhibited the suite at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago, garnering critical acclaim. Over the next few years, Bel Geddes designed several other pieces for Simmons, such as an Art Deco-style one-drawer side table, leather-upholstered metal armchairs, vanity benches and chests of drawers.

In addition to these modernist designs, Simmons created American Classical furniture and steel reproductions of Windsor, Chippendale and Sheraton pieces aimed at the upper-middle-class market. To soften the industrial look, many pieces, such as rocking chairs, armchairs, desks and dressers, were enameled in color finishes or imitation wood.

Simmons Company Furniture pieces have had a resurgence in popularity, particularly among interior designers and collectors of early 20th-century furniture. The company’s furnishings are in museum collections across the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum in New York.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of Simmons Company Furniture seating, case pieces and storage cabinets, tables and more.