I have said many times that going to the preview for one of Wright Gallery’s design auctions is like going to a design museum, except you get to touch everything. You can even sit on the furniture.
It’s fun to look at the catalog online, of course, but nothing beats going over to Wright’s place on Hubbard Street and seeing it all in their display room. You’ve really got to give props to Wright’s Michael Jefferson, who procures spectacular consignments for these design sales, and arranges them in very appealing vignettes.
I like this selection: a leather-topped coffee table by Jacques Adnet and a pair of chairs by Pierre Jeanneret, with a Jean Prouve bed behind it and a pair of Gilbert Rohde chests to the left.
There were some great dining/conference tables. I like the Paul Frankl cork piece to the right, and the Edward Wormley table to the left, with Scarpa chairs.
Also love the big Nakashima table. [The Brno chairs are a separate lot].
Several lots in the auction are from George Nelson’s own collection, including some of his own designs and some from his contemporaries. Two in particular interested me:
The Eames Aluminum Group swivel lounge chair and ottoman
and his [pretty beat-up] Eames Hang-It-All.
Both of these carried what I would consider kind of lowball estimates: the chair/ottoman at $300-500, and the Hang-It-All at $500-700. I’m guessing that, with the provenance, they’ll go for many times more than that.
But my favorite piece in the sale has to be this item from Ettore Sottsass from his high Memphis period
which, although it looks like a cabinet on wheels, is actually called “S vase from Twenty-seven Woods for a Chinese Artificial Flower.” [estimate $3-5K]
