Paul Evans Cityscape Dining Table for Directional
View Similar Items
Paul Evans Cityscape Dining Table for Directional
About the Item
- Creator:Paul Evans (Designer),Directional (Manufacturer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 29.25 in (74.3 cm)Width: 95.5 in (242.57 cm)Depth: 48 in (121.92 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970-1979
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. One small patchwork piece that needs some fill and varnish. We can be restore if desired. Superficial scratches on chrome. Two tiny dents on outer table top edges. Please request more photos as 1stdibs has a 20 photo limit.
- Seller Location:Redding, CT
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU95953429492
Cityscape Dining Table
The Cityscape dining table created by artist, sculptor and furniture designer Paul Evans (1931–87) is one of the most recognizable examples of brutalist design. Evans, whose favored material was metal, is best known for his 1970s contributions to the American Studio Craft movement as well as his breakthroughs in brutalism. In the early 1950s, Evans studied at Philadelphia’s Textile Institute and then at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Michigan’s Cranbrook Academy of Art, which has counted among its students and faculty Charles and Ray Eames, Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen and many more towering design figures.
Later in the decade, Evans moved to New Hope, Pennsylvania, not far from the Bucks County town in which he was raised, and joined with woodworker Phillip Lloyd Powell in a decade-long partnership. Evans and Powell collaborated on a significant series of pieces, often procuring discarded wood from furniture maker George Nakashima, who had a neighboring studio. In 1964, Evans teamed with North Carolina manufacturer Directional Furniture, for which he designed classic lines, including the 1970s-era Cityscape series, which in addition to the dining table, included a coffee table, floor lamps, a credenza and more.
Although based in Pennsylvania, Evans found the inspiration for his Cityscape dining table in New York City’s crowded skyline — specifically, in the Art Deco office buildings and stately spires. Beneath the piece’s beveled glass tabletop, in a base fashioned from brass, chromed steel and walnut burlwood, Evans’s decorative clusters of boxy forms echo Manhattan’s blocky building tops and wealth of window glass. It’s clear that the Cityscape series has roots in Evans’s affinity for urban landscapes, but the line’s sculptural attributes rendered the work outlandish in modest living spaces — so much so that a Directional print advertisement characterized the designs as “startling.”
Paul Evans
A designer and sculptor, Paul Evans was a wild card of late 20th century modernism. A leading light of the American Studio Furniture movement, Evans’s sideboards, credenzas, coffee tables and other work manifests a singular aesthetic sense, as well as a seemingly contradictory appreciation for both folk art forms and for new materials and technologies.
Evans’s primary material was metal, not wood, which was favored by his fellow studio designers, and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, neighbors George Nakashima and Phillip Lloyd Powell. He trained in metallurgy and studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the famed crucible of modern design and art in suburban Detroit. For a time early in his career, Evans also worked at Sturbridge Village, a historical “living museum” in Massachusetts, where he gave demonstrations as a costumed silversmith.
Evans’s earliest work unites these influences. The pieces that made his reputation are known as “sculpted-front” cabinets: wood cases faced with box-like high-relief patinated steel mounts laid out in a grid pattern. Each mount contains a metal emblem, or glyph, and the effect is that of a brawny quilt.
Evans’s later work falls into three distinct style groups. His sculpted-bronze pieces, begun in the mid-1960s, show Evans at his most expressive. He employed a technique in which resin is hand-shaped, and later sprayed with a metal coating, allowing for artistic nuance in the making of chairs, tables and case pieces. Later in the decade and into the 1970s, Evans produced his Argente series for celebrated manufacturer Directional (a brand known to vintage mid-century modern furniture collectors everywhere): consoles and other furniture forms that feature aluminum and pigment-infused metal surfaces welded into abstract organic forms and patterns.
Last, Evans's Cityscape design series — a milestone in the history of brutalist design — meshed perfectly with the sleek, “high tech” sensibility of the later ’70s. Evans constructed boxy forms and faced them with irregular mosaic patterns that mixed rectangular plaques of chromed steel, bronze or burlwood veneer. These, like all of Paul Evans’s designs, are both useful and eye-catching. But their appeal has another, more visceral quality: these pieces have clearly been touched by an artist’s hand.
Find a collection of authentic Paul Evans furniture today on 1stDibs.
- Paul Evans Mixed Metal Patchwork Table with Smoked GlassBy Directional, Paul EvansLocated in Redding, CTPaul Evans mixed metal patchwork table with smoked glass. Designed for Directional in the late 1960s by Evans this Brutalist masterpiece involved a lot of hand work and is really an...Category
Vintage 1960s American Brutalist Console Tables
MaterialsBrass, Pewter, Copper
$10,800 Sale Price28% Off - Adrian Pearsall for Craft Associates Dining Table BaseBy Adrian PearsallLocated in Redding, CTAdrian Pearsall for Craft Associates Dining Table Base. This Iconic designed table is styled after the iconic designs of Paul Evans work . It is made out of resin, plaster and paint....Category
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsEpoxy Resin, Plaster, Paint
- Pair of Mid-Century Modern Cube Tables in the Style of Paul EvansBy Paul EvansLocated in Redding, CTPair of Mid-Century Modern cube tables in the style of Paul Evans. Deep earth tones make up this pair. Perfect for nightstands or end tables. Price is for the pair, not per item.Category
Vintage 1970s Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsWood, Laminate
$2,025 Sale Price / item42% Off - Boho Chic Chinoiserie Round Rattan Dining Table BaseBy John and Elinor McGuireLocated in Redding, CTBoho chic Chinoiserie round rattan Dining table base . Just add a larger piece of glass. Or use as is as a center or side table. We do have larger pieces of glass so please inquire ...Category
Vintage 1970s Bohemian Center Tables
MaterialsWicker, Rattan, Glass
$874 Sale Price41% Off - Mid Century Impasto Cityscape by ColettaLocated in Redding, CTMid Century Impasto Cityscape by Coletta. Nice heavy brushstokes made up this amazing cityscape. Deep colors of purple, black, white and yellow make up this busy composition. Perfect...Category
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Paintings
MaterialsLinen, Masonite, Paint
$1,295 Sale Price28% Off - Mid-Century Modern Cityscape on BoardLocated in Redding, CTMid-Century Modern cityscape on board. Deep rainbow of colors abstract of a cityscape. Framed and Signed Marjorie M. Luther.Category
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Paintings
MaterialsWood, Paint
- Paul Evans Patchwork Copper 106" Extendable Dining Table for Directional, c 1967By Directional, Paul EvansLocated in Los Angeles, CAStunning and very rare copper clad extendable dining table by Paul Evans for Directional, produced circa 1967. This incredible piece of design history is fabricated from patinated pieces of copper, brass, and pewter formed in a patchwork pattern. Perfect statement piece for a discerning collector, design connoisseur or luxury interior designer. Hefty and sturdy construction in this extendable Parsons table which can be transformed from 66" up to a large 106" with the two matching leaves, allowing seating for up to 10 to 12 people. Or consider using as a heavy duty desk / work table. The fusion of these mixed metals of copper, brass and pewter formulates an exemplary piece which would be a welcomed statement to any connoisseur's collection. We have the matching cafe / game table and floating wall console...Category
Vintage 1960s American Brutalist Dining Room Tables
MaterialsBrass, Copper, Pewter
- Cityscape Dining Table by Paul EvansBy Paul EvansLocated in North Hollywood, CAGorgeous vintage burlwood top Paul Evans dining table with brass base. Large table top with no scratches on it. Base has nice detail and t...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWood
- Paul Evans for Directional Cityscape Dining TableBy Paul EvansLocated in West Palm Beach, FLPaul Evans for Directional cityscape table base. Size lends itself to either being a dining table or console table base, glass is not included. Ra...Category
Vintage 1970s North American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsBrass
- Vintage Chrome "Cityscape" Dining Table by Paul Evans for DirectionalBy Directional, Paul EvansLocated in North Hollywood, CAExceptional vintage “Cityscape” dining table designed by Paul Evans for Directional in the United States, circa 1970s. This dining table belongs to ...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsChrome
- Paul Evans Monumental Burl Wood Parsons Extension Dining Table, Newly RefinishedBy Paul Evans, DirectionalLocated in South Bend, INA rare and exceptional custom monumental Mid-Century Modern Parsons extension dining table or conference table By Paul Evans for Directional, "Cityscape" Collection USA, 1970s ...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsBurl
- Paul Evans, "Cityscape" Dining Table, Mirror, Wood, Directional, USA, c. 1970By Paul Evans, DirectionalLocated in High Point, NCA wood and mirror "Cityscape" dining table designed by Paul Evans and produced by Directional, circa 1970.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsMirror, Wood