Paul Evans Sculpted Bronze Coffee Table, 1974
View Similar Items
Paul Evans Sculpted Bronze Coffee Table, 1974
About the Item
- Creator:Directional (Maker),Paul Evans (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 16 in (40.64 cm)Width: 60 in (152.4 cm)Depth: 36 in (91.44 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:Bronze,Glass,Resin
- Place of Origin:United States
- Period:20th Century
- Date of Manufacture:1974
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. The base is in very good original condition with only very minor wear associated with light use. The glass has some scattered light scratches. This is not distracting from the overall very good condition.
- Seller Location:Costa Mesa, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU922029865362
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.
- Generation 80 Oak & Walnut Coffee Table, circa 1980By Lou HodgesLocated in Costa Mesa, CAGeneration 80 Oak & Walnut coffee table, circa 1980. This table has been professionally restored.Category
20th Century American Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsOak, Walnut
- Lou Hodges Handcrafted Oak Coffee Table for California Design Group, 1980By Lou HodgesLocated in Costa Mesa, CALou Hodges handcrafted solid oak coffee Table for California Design Group, 1980. This piece has been professionally restored.Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsOak
- Richard Thompson Walnut Coffee Table for Glenn of California, c.1965By Glenn of California, Milo Baughman, Richard ThompsonLocated in Costa Mesa, CARichard Thompson Walnut Coffee Table for Glenn of California, c.1965. This piece has been professionally restored.Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsWalnut
- Raymor Ceramic Table Lamp, Italy, c.1960By RaymorLocated in Costa Mesa, CARaymor Italian Ceramic Table Lamp, Italy, c.1960. Signed " R 11119 Raymor Italy " to the bottom. Measures: 24.63" to the socket 18.5" to the top of the ceramic 6.13" diameter ...Category
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsCeramic
- Gerald McCabe Shedua Trestle Dining Table & Benches, c.1980By Orange Crate Modern, Gerald McCabeLocated in Costa Mesa, CAGerald McCabe Shedua Trestle Dining Table & Benches for Orange Crate Modern. Santa Monica, California, c.1980. Makers mark to the bottom of the table. One bench is hand signed to...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Tables
MaterialsWood
Sold$16,500 / set - David Cressey Monumental Ceramic Table Lamp, circa 1970By David CresseyLocated in Costa Mesa, CADavid Cressey Monumental Ceramic Table Lamp, circa 1970. Measures: 36 7/8" to the top of the socket 31" to the top of the ceramic 16" wide 9" deep ( The lamp shade i...Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsCeramic, Stoneware
- Paul Evans Sculpted Bronze Coffee TableBy Paul EvansLocated in West Palm Beach, FLPaul Evans sculpted bronze coffee table. Signed PE 72. Table is being offered as a base only, no glass top will be provided. Beautiful verdigris patina ...Category
Vintage 1970s North American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBronze
- Paul Evans Signed Vintage Sculpted Bronze Stalagmite Cocktail TableBy Paul EvansLocated in North Miami, FLThis wonderful signed sculpted Paul Evans cocktail table from 1976 looks like molten castle drippings of bronze of varying heights in brutalist and crown forms. It is called the stalagmite table...Category
Vintage 1970s American Organic Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBronze
- Paul Evans Signed & Dated Rectangular Sculpted Bronze and Glass Cocktail TableBy Paul EvansLocated in New York, NYThis beautiful and iconic Brutalist sculpted bronze "Stalagmite" was realized by the fabled designed Paul Evans in in 1970. It features a welded sculptural and heavily textured bronz...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBronze
- Paul Evans Monumental Sculpted Bronze and Glass Coffee Table, Signed, 1974By Paul EvansLocated in New York, NYPaul Evans (1931–1987) A sculptural brutalist coffee table by Studio Craft Movement leader Paul Evans, in bronze. The architectural base —comprised of textural interlocking facets v...Category
Vintage 1970s American Brutalist Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBronze
$16,000 Sale Price25% Off - Paul Evans Sculpted Bronze Skyline Coffee TableBy Paul EvansLocated in North Hollywood, CAPaul Evans sculpted bronze brutalist skyline coffee table, signed PE71 Glass top is 3/4" thick, 28" deep and 55" wide. Base is 15" high, 28" deep...Category
Vintage 1970s American Brutalist Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBronze
- Paul Evans Sculpted Bronze "Stalagmite" Coffee TableBy Paul EvansLocated in Dallas, TXA Paul Evans designed PE-128 "Stalagmite" coffee table with glass top.Category
Vintage 1970s Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBronze