Swift and Monell Coffee Table

Boat-shaped coffee table with beveled edges in silvered walnut by the team of German-born American architects Oscar Stonorov and Willo von Moltke, designed for the Museum of Modern Art's 1941 Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition, and produced in very small numbers by Red Lion Furniture of Pennsylvania. Per the MoMA catalog, “a design may be called organic when there is an harmonious organization of the parts within the whole, according to structure, material, and purpose. Within this definition there can be no vain ornamentation or superfluity, but the part of beauty is none the less great—in ideal choice of material, in visual refinement, and in the rational elegance of things internded for use.” The suite of furnishings designed by Stonorov and von Moltke---including a vanity, coffee table, dining set, bed, nightstand, and case pieces--won honorable mention at the seminal competition and received a preferred placement at the MoMA exhibition itself. The winning entries in the competition, which included the iconic seating and unit furniture by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen, were showcased at eleven department stores across the country--notably Bloomingdale's and Kaufmann's--and were intended for serial production, but America's entry into WWII a month after the opening of the exhibition, along with higher than expected price points across the board meant that few pieces were actually made outside the ones initially sent to the participating department stores. This was especially true for the Stonorov and von Moltke suite, which wound up being among the most expensive items...

First edition of The Documents of Modern Art, Vol. 8, edited and with an introduction by Robert Motherwell. Cover and typography by Paul Rand. Published in 1951 by Wittenborn, Schultz Inc. With texts by Richard Huelsenbeck, Hugo Ball, Kurt Schwitters, Jacques Vache, Tristan Tzara, Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, George Hugnet, Andre Breton, Jean Arp, Paul Eluard, Louis Aragon, Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia, and Hans Richter. Illustrations by (or after) Jean Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Raoul Hausmann, Paul Klee, Marcel Janco, Man Ray, Francis Picabia, Tristan Tzara, Kurt Schwitters, Kasimir Malevich, Pablo Picasso, Sophie Tauber...

A burled walnut and black painted iron coffee table, designed and produced by Lila Swift + Donald Monell, USA, 1950s.

Floating Liana is a coffee table with twisted Liana wood floating in an extra clear lake of resin and resting on a glass base. The straight shape of the top and base make nature the ...