George Nakashima Free Edge Black Walnut Wall Mounted Cabinet, USA, 1960s
View Similar Items
George Nakashima Free Edge Black Walnut Wall Mounted Cabinet, USA, 1960s
About the Item
- Creator:George Nakashima (Cabinetmaker)
- Dimensions:Height: 14.25 in (36.2 cm)Width: 65 in (165.1 cm)Depth: 13.75 in (34.93 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960s
- Condition:Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU804821461552
George Nakashima
A master woodworker and M.I.T.-trained architect, George Nakashima was the leading light of the American Studio furniture movement. Along with Wharton Esherick, Sam Maloof and Wendell Castle, Nakashima was an artisan who disdained industrial methods and materials in favor of a personal, craft-based approach to the design. What sets Nakashima apart is the poetic style of his work, his reverence for wood and the belief that his furniture could evince — as he put it in the title of his 1981 memoir — The Soul of a Tree.
Born in Spokane, Washington, to Japanese immigrants, Nakashima traveled widely after college, working and studying in Paris, Japan and India, and at every stop he absorbed both modernist and traditional design influences. The turning point in Nakashima’s career development came in the United States in 1942, when he was placed in an internment camp for Asian-Americans in Idaho. There, Nakashima met a master woodcarver who tutored him in Japanese crafting techniques. A former employer won Nakashima’s release and brought him to bucolic New Hope, Pennsylvania, where Nakashima set up a studio and worked for the rest of his life.
Nakashima’s singular aesthetic is best captured in his custom-made tables and benches — pieces that show off the grain, burls and whorls in a plank of wood. He left the “free edge,” or natural contour, of the slab un-planed, and reinforced fissures in the wood with “butterfly” joints. Almost all Nakashima seating pieces have smooth, milled edges. Nakashima also contracted with large-scale manufacturers to produce carefully supervised editions of his designs. Knoll has offered his Straight chair — a modern take on the spindle-backed Windsor chair — since 1946; the now-defunct firm Widdicomb-Mueller issued the Shaker-inspired Origins collection in the 1950s.
Nelson Rockefeller in 1973 gave Nakashima his single largest commission: a 200-piece suite for his suburban New York estate. Today, Nakashima furniture is collected by both the staid and the fashionable: his work sits in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as in the homes of Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt, Diane von Furstenberg and the late Steve Jobs.
- Live Edge Coffee Table by George NakashimaBy George NakashimaLocated in New York, NYPhenomenal live edge coffee table by George Nakashima. circa 1960s with an organic walnut burl flow. Approximate overall dimensions: 58"W x 33.5"D x 13"H.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- George Nakashima Music StandBy George NakashimaLocated in New York, NYStunning burl walnut music stand by George Nakashima. Signed and dated 1978. Literature: Derek E. Ostergard, George Nakashima: Full Circle, exh. cat., American Craft Museum, New York, 1989, p. 176 (for a related example) Mira Nakashima, Nature Form & Spirit: The Life and Legacy of George Nakashima, New York, 2003, p. 113 Robert Aibel...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Music Stands
MaterialsWood, Burl
$69,300 - Rackstraw Downes Early Abstract Hard Edge Painting, USA 1960sBy Rackstraw Downes 1Located in New York, NYUnlike his other works often described as super realist landscape, this painting of Rackstraw Downes (B.1939) presents an abstract rendering with hard edge forms and strong juxtaposi...Category
Vintage 1960s American Paintings
MaterialsCanvas
- American Studio Crafts Movement Walnut Two-Drawer Stand, USA 1960sLocated in New York, NYThis piece although unidentified shows signs of the great makers of the period. Unable to determine if it is by the likes of Wendell Castle, Sam Maloof or Wharton Esherick it clearly...Category
Vintage 1960s American Commodes and Chests of Drawers
MaterialsWalnut
- Mira Nakashima Live Edge Coffee TableBy Mira NakashimaLocated in New York, NYStunning Live Edge Coffee Table by Mira Nakashima, in black walnut with dramatic variation in the grain, knot details and three rosewood butterflies. ...Category
Late 20th Century American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsRosewood, Walnut
- Adja Yunkers Lithograph Signed, USA, 1960sBy Adja YunkersLocated in New York, NYAdja Yunkers (1900-1983) was an abstract painter and printmaker. Born in Latvia Yunkers lived and studied extensively in Leningrad, Berlin, Paris, and London. He lived in Paris for 1...Category
Vintage 1960s American Prints
MaterialsPaper
- Free Edge George Nakashima 2-Door CabinetBy George NakashimaLocated in West Palm Beach, FLAn early cabinet consisting of 2 sliding doors concealing 4 drawers and a shelf. George Nakshima sliding door cabinet Open shelf on 1 side, 4 drawers...Category
Vintage 1960s North American Cabinets
MaterialsWalnut
- George Nakashima, Kornblut Cabinet in American Black Walnut, 1972, New Hope USABy George Nakashima Studio, George NakashimaLocated in Wargrave, BerkshireGeorge Nakashima (1905-1990), Kornblut Cabinet in American Black Walnut, made at the Nakashima Studio in New Hope, Pennsylvania, USA in 1972. This ra...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsWalnut, Burl
- George Nakashima CabinetBy George NakashimaLocated in New York, NYSliding Door Cabinet by George Nakashima. American black walnut, oak, brass. This cabinet features an overhanging top with a long free-edge. 3 sliding doors with 2 side compartments ...Category
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Cabinets
MaterialsBrass
$125,000 - Hanging Cabinet by George NakashimaBy George NakashimaLocated in San Francisco, CAThis rare and unique walnut hanging cabinet by George Nakashima is a beautiful and functional piece of modern furniture with sliding doors. The cabinet features an overhang top with one free edge above two doors that conceal one adjustable shelf. Crafted from high-quality American black walnut wood, this cabinet has been fully restored at the Nakashima workshop...Category
Vintage 1950s American Modern Shelves
MaterialsWalnut
- Hanging Cabinet by George NakashimaBy George NakashimaLocated in San Francisco, CAThis rare and unique walnut hanging cabinet by George Nakashima is a beautiful and functional piece of modern furniture with sliding doors. The cabinet features an overhang top with one free edge above two doors that conceal one adjustable shelf. Crafted from high-quality American black walnut wood, this cabinet has been fully restored at the Nakashima workshop...Category
Vintage 1950s American Modern Shelves
MaterialsWalnut
- Finn Juhl Wall-Mounted Cabinets by BakerBy Finn Juhl, Baker Furniture CompanyLocated in Highland, INThis pair of walnut Finn Juhl wall-mounted cases mount on metal uprights and can be adjusted and configured as desired. They feature details that many of Juhl's designs for Baker Fur...Category
Vintage 1950s American Scandinavian Modern Cabinets
MaterialsSteel