Paul Evans City Scape for Directional Cubes as End Tables or Coffee Table
View Similar Items
Paul Evans City Scape for Directional Cubes as End Tables or Coffee Table
About the Item
- Creator:Directional (Manufacturer),Paul Evans (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)Width: 12 in (30.48 cm)Depth: 12 in (30.48 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1975
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Dings on one side of one table .
- Seller Location:Ferndale, MI
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU848233857512
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.
Directional
A brand known to vintage mid-century modern furniture collectors everywhere, Directional Furniture opened its doors after American furniture designer Paul McCobb created the high-end Directional Modern line of sofas distributed by the New York–based Modernage Company.
In his pivotal introduction of postwar modernism to the mass market, the revered Massachusetts-born McCobb had established several lines, from the affordable and refined Planner Group for Winchendon to the swooping and unexpected arms of the Symmetric Group for Widdicomb, a Shaker-inspired collection that included a sofa and a lounge chair. Like all of McCobb’s designs, the Directional pieces for Modernage are defined by a sleek aesthetic in which the focus is on elegant functionality, frequently using fine materials such as brass and walnut. In 1949, in partnership with New York furniture salesman B.G. Mesberg, McCobb set up the Directional Furniture Company.
The pair’s first pieces were upholstered chairs, intended to harmonize with the modular Multiplex pieces designed by Martin Feinman. McCobb then designed an array of furniture including storage, dining, seating, desks and other pieces with details such as leather tops, wood finishes and Roman Travertine surfaces. While Directional stopped production of McCobb’s work in the early 1960s, it still released numerous pieces by leading designers manufactured by a variety of companies.
Designer Paul Evans led the factory for a time after joining in 1964. His provocative work for the company often reflected his understanding of materials from his early training as a silversmith, such as the popular Cityscape series — a milestone in brutalist design — with its blocky forms accented with brass and chrome. At his shop in Lambertville, New Jersey, he collaborated with a design team to clad furniture pieces in metallic surfaces, like the Argente line that began production in 1968 and involved an acetylene torch to give its aluminum material a textural quality. He also worked on the Sculpted Bronze series with hand-formed resin shaped over plywood or steel that was then coated with atomized bronze.
Other Directional designers included Vladimir Kagan, who contributed biomorphic sofas and swivel chairs; Milo Baughman, who created tables and dressers inspired by Scandinavian modernism; and Jack Lenor Larsen, who covered sofas in dynamically patterned fabric.
Find authentic Directional Furniture seating, tables, case pieces and storage cabinets from top sellers around the world on 1stDibs.
- Paul Evans City Scape for Directional Hexagon Side or Game TableBy Directional, Paul EvansLocated in Ferndale, MIPaul Evans designed Hexagonal table. Assorted geometric shapes of polished brass and brushed stainless steel applied to hexagonal column. Sparkling je...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Game Tables
MaterialsBrass, Stainless Steel
- Thick Paul Evans Cityscape for Directional Patchwork Burl Wood Top Side TableBy Paul EvansLocated in Ferndale, MIPaul Evans designed side or lamp table. Designed for the Directional City Scape series. Tabletop is a patchwork of Burl wood. Cruciform base is a patchwork of brushed stainless stee...Category
Mid-20th Century American Post-Modern Side Tables
MaterialsBrass, Stainless Steel
- Brutalist Copper Patch Work Table Lamp Attributed as Early Paul EvansBy Paul EvansLocated in Ferndale, MII believe this to be an early Paul Evans creation. Possibly from his days at Cranbrook. Odd shapes of copper sheet welded and soldered together with a catal...Category
Mid-20th Century American Brutalist Table Lamps
MaterialsCopper
- Large thick Lucite coffee table or benchLocated in Ferndale, MILarge one inch thick lucite bench or coffee table . Flat slab top rolls down either side and along the floor . Recently polished very little if any evidence of scratching no nicks . ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsAcrylic, Lucite
$2,800 Sale Price20% Off - Paul Frankl for Johnson Furniture cork top cocktail tableBy Paul Frankl, Johnson Furniture CompanyLocated in Ferndale, MIPaul T. Frankl designed a large collection of mid century modern pieces for Johnson furniture . Introduced after the war this table is a fine example from that collection . Origina...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWood, Cork
- Blonde Paul McCobb Planner Group for Winchendon Cocktail Table with DrawerBy Winchendon, Planner Group, Paul McCobbLocated in Ferndale, MIMaybe the cleanest original finish Paul McCobb coffee table I have ever seen. Part of the Planner Group for Winchendon Furniture. One long drawer below nicely grained maple top suppo...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMaple
- Cityscape Coffee Table Paul Evans for DirectionalBy Paul EvansLocated in Atlanta, GAA large brass patchwork cityscape coffee table in contrast with a rather unusual Brazilian rosewood top. A very generous size with striking visual impact. This is a custom pieces executed circa 1975 by Paul Evans for Directional.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass
$6,400 Sale Price20% Off - Paul Evans Studio Coffee Table for DirectionalBy Directional, Paul EvansLocated in Dallas, TXWelded and patinated steel coffee table by Paul Evans Studio for Directional. Table is in excellent condition.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsCut Steel
- Paul Evans for Directional Model PE-14 Coffee TableBy Directional, Paul EvansLocated in Philadelphia, PAPaul Evans for Directional Model PE-14 42" Coffee Table. Beautiful Pyramid Design Cocktail Table from the "Sculptured Metal Collection" for Directional. Comprised of 4 pyramids th...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Paul Evans Brutalist Mixed Metal Coffee Table for DirectionalBy Paul Evans, DirectionalLocated in Los Angeles, CAPaul Evans Brutalist mixed metal coffee table for directional.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBrass, Copper, Pewter
- Pair of Rare Paul Evans Gunmetal Cityscape End or Coffee Tables on CastorsBy Paul EvansLocated in Chicago, ILRare gunmetal cityscape pattern. These come with slate tops that are removable. They are inserted and rest on top of the lip and a center peg. Both tables are on rolling castors. Mos...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern End Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Large Paul Evans Ten Segment Chrome Coffee Table, for DirectionalBy Paul Evans, DirectionalLocated in West Palm Beach, FLLarge Paul Evans ten segment chrome coffee table, for Directional. This iconic Mid-Century Modern example is in near mint condition, with numerous two-tone polished and satin chrome ...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsChrome