- Want more images or videos?Request additional images or videos from the seller
Edward Wormley for Dunbar 1940s Round or Oval Dining Table

About
Details
- CreatorEdward Wormley (Designer)
- DimensionsHeight: 29 in. (73.66 cm)Diameter: 50 in. (127 cm)
- StyleMid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and TechniquesMahogany,Stained
- Place of Origin
- Period
- Date of Manufacture1940s
- ConditionWear consistent with age and use. To be refinished.
- Seller LocationSt. Louis, MO
- Reference Number1stDibs: LU820211504543
Shipping & Returns
- ShippingShips From: St. Louis, MO
- Return Policy
A return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
About the Designer
Edward Wormley
As the longtime director of design for the Dunbar furniture company, Edward Wormley was, along with such peers as George Nelson at Herman Miller Inc., and Florence Knoll of Knoll Inc., one of the leading forces in bringing modern design into American homes in the mid-20th century. Not an axiomatic modernist, Wormley deeply appreciated traditional design, and consequently his work has an understated warmth and a timeless quality that sets it apart from other furnishings of the era.
Wormley was born in rural Illinois and as a teenager took correspondence courses from the New York School of Interior Design. He later attended the Art Institute of Chicago but ran out of money for tuition before he could graduate. Marshall Field hired Wormley in 1930 to design a line of reproduction 18th-century English furniture; the following year he was hired by the Indiana-based Dunbar, where he quickly distinguished himself. It was a good match.
Dunbar was an unusual firm: it did not use automated production systems; its pieces were mostly hand-constructed. For his part, Wormley did not use metal as a major component of furniture; he liked craft elements such as caned seatbacks, tambour drawers, or the woven-wood cabinet fronts seen on his Model 5666 sideboard of 1956. He designed two lines for Dunbar each year — one traditional, one modern — until 1944, by which time the contemporary pieces had become the clear best sellers.
Many of Wormley’s signature pieces — chairs, sofas, tables and more — are modern interpretations of traditional forms. His 1946 Riemerschmid Chair — an example is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art — recapitulates a late 19th-century German design. The long, slender finials of his Model 5580 dining chairs are based on those of Louis XVI chairs; his Listen-to-Me Chaise (1948) has a gentle Rococo curve; the “Precedent” line that Wormley designed for Drexel Furniture in 1947 is a simplified, pared-down take on muscular Georgian furniture. But he could invent new forms, as his Magazine table of 1953, with its bent wood pockets, and his tiered Magazine Tree (1947), both show. And Wormley kept his eye on design currents, creating a series of tables with tops that incorporate tiles and roundels by the great modern ceramicists Otto and Gertrud Natzler.
As the vintage items on 1stDibs demonstrate, Edward Wormley conceived of a subdued sort of modernism, designing furniture that fits into any decorating scheme and does not shout for attention.
- By Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOEdward Wormley for Dunbar oval dining table, model # 696. Mahogany slight oval with sculpted legs and inset apro...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- By Edward Wormley, Dunbar FurnitureLocated in St. Louis, MOThis is want I believe to be a rare Edward J. Wormley for Dunbar dining table, circa 1950, from one owner estate...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- By Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MODark brown stain on mahogany two-tiered occasional table by Edwards Wormley for Dunbar, circa 1940s. Email for d...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOFrom the 1940s Dunbar Enduring Modern catalog is model # 2193, a single large end table with lower tier bookshel...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsMahogany
- By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOPair of early 1940s Edward J. Wormley Elegant neoclassical style occasional arm chairs for Dunbar model No. 116B...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsMahogany
- By Dunbar Furniture, Edward WormleyLocated in St. Louis, MOEdward Wormley for Dunbar set of four elegant side chairs with dark mahogany legs. Current set of four, have ori...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Mahogany
You May Also Like
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Brass
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Brass
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Brass
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Wood
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Wood
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Burl
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
Brass
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Conference Tables
Chrome
Early 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Drop-leaf and Pembroke Ta...
Walnut
Recently Viewed
View MoreThe 1stDibs Promise
Learn MoreExpertly Vetted Sellers
Confidence at Checkout
Price-Match Guarantee
Exceptional Support
Buyer Protection
Insured Global Delivery