Harvey Probber Leather Sofa
View Similar Items
Harvey Probber Leather Sofa
About the Item
- Creator:Harvey Probber (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 25 in (63.5 cm)Width: 102 in (259.08 cm)Depth: 34 in (86.36 cm)Seat Height: 14 in (35.56 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1950s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:San Diego, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU88781153520
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 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 the simple lines now associated with mid-century modernism 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 sofas, case goods and other 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.
- Antique Set of Three Italian Leather Camel Figurines SculpturesLocated in San Diego, CAVery unique set of three Italian leather wrapped camel figurines. The outer surface is leather and all three have glass eyes. Detail is excellent. In ni...Category
Early 20th Century Italian Animal Sculptures
MaterialsLeather
- Vintage Modern Lounge Chair w/Ottoman by Donald Knorr for Vista of CaliforniaBy Donald KnorrLocated in San Diego, CALounge chair and ottoman by Donald Knorr for Vista of California. While most pieces in this line typically have tubular metal frames, this example has the less common square metal fr...Category
Mid-20th Century North American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBrass, Steel
- Edward Wormley for Dunbar Pair of Club ChairsBy Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in San Diego, CAPair of side upholstered side chairs by Edward Wormley for Dunbar. Medium brown lightly textured fabric and dark brown lacquered wood base. Chairs have been completely redone. Wonder...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsWood
$4,800 / set - 1950s Barney Reid Screen Printed Fabric PanelBy Barney ReidLocated in San Diego, CAScreened printed fabric panel with stylized abstract figures by Barney Reid. Retains original tag as pictured. Acquired directly from the artist ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Tapestries
MaterialsFabric
- 1980 Richard Allen Morris Abstract Painting CollageBy Richard Allen MorrisLocated in San Diego, CAA strong little abstract oil collage from 1980 by Richard Allen Morris. Overall frame measures 13" wide, 11" tall, 1" deep. Image size is 7" wide,...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Paintings
- 1957 Fred Hocks Oil on Canvas Abstract PaintingBy Fred HocksLocated in San Diego, CAExcellent example of a large oil on canvas abstraction by Fred Hocks from 1957. This painting was included in the 1976 retrospective at the Fine Arts Gallery in San Diego which later became the San Diego Museum of Art. No painter embodies San Diego’s early avant-garde more than Fred (Ferdinand) Hocks, a German-born painter who began visiting San Diego in the late 1920s after studies at the California School of Fine Art in San Francisco and the Art Students League in New York. Fellow painter Dan Dickey credited Hocks in 1947 with “opening up pathways for future, more enlightened generations (of artists),” and predicted that Fred Hocks would be “esteemed a master.” During the post-war years Hocks was assistant director of the San Diego School of Arts and Crafts, a private art school in La Jolla, and was instrumental in keeping affordable artist’s studios in Spanish Village. Along with modern architect Lloyd Ruocco, Fred Hocks co-founded the dynamic Allied Artists Council with Belle Baranceanu, Everett Gee Jackson, Dan Dickey and John Olsen. The well-travelled Hocks exhibited in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena, Paris, Mallorca and Guadalajara, had several one-person shows at the Art Center La Jolla/La Jolla Museum of Art and at the Fine Arts Gallery (SDMA). The San Diego Museum of Art held a major retrospective of his painting in 1976, just a few years before his death. He brought a continental element to the local art scene and is described in Bruce Kamerling’s 100 Years of Art in San Diego as “one of the most adventurous local artists…an intelligent and articulate defender of modern tendencies in art.” Local arts and architecture writer James Britton called Fred Hocks “the dean of the San Diego moderns...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Contemporary Art
- Harvey Probber SofaBy Harvey ProbberLocated in San Francisco, CAA three-seat sofa by Harvey Probber. Curved front. Loose cushions on the seat, back and sides. Sofa sits on 6 wooden feet.Category
Vintage 1960s American Modern Sofas
MaterialsWood
$12,000 - Harvey Probber Midcentury Sectional SofaBy Harvey ProbberLocated in Countryside, ILHarvey Probber midcentury sectional sofa This sofa measures: 133 wide x 100 deep x 28 inches high, with a seat height of 1...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Sectional Sofas
MaterialsUpholstery, Wood
$12,995 / set - Harvey Probber Bronze Base SofaBy Harvey ProbberLocated in Pasadena, TXA Mid-Century Modern sofa designed by Harvey Probber. Mint green upholstery with a button tufted back and two detached seat cushions on a bronze anodized base. Size: 7.5ft.Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsMetal
- Harvey Probber Sloped Arm SofaBy Harvey ProbberLocated in Hanover, MAAt last, a mid-century sofa at a comfortable seat height thanks to its 10 inch high legs. Original Harvey Probber mid-century modern sofa with distinctive sloped arms and square tap...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsBrass
- Mid Century Harvey Probber SofaBy Harvey ProbberLocated in Pasadena, TXA vintage mid century modern sofa designed by Harvey Probber. Two seat cushions with button tufted back and a walnut base.Category
Vintage 1950s American Sofas
MaterialsFabric, Walnut
$5,520 Sale Price20% Off - Mid-Century Sofa by Harvey ProbberBy Harvey ProbberLocated in Cincinnati, OHA very well crafted sofa with the original contract fabric loose back and lower cushions, round solid wood tube styled legs I satin black and constructed with springs to the bottom o...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Sofas
MaterialsUpholstery
$1,600 / item