Innovative Furniture in America from 1800 to the Present

This extraordinary volume presents nearly two centuries of furniture as invention & aesthetic object - expressions of the American genius for fulfilling changing needs & tastes. With 171 illustrations (photographs, drawings, reproductions from historical catalogues & advertisements) of every kind of furniture in all sorts of materials, & with illuminating descriptions, this book is a unique resource for anyone interested in the decorative arts. The book is divided into five major sections - TECHNIQUES, MATERIAL, COMFORT, PORTABILITY & MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS. Many designers are included with concise biographies. The range of major figures, with details of their work, include John Henry Belter, George J. Hunzinger, Thomas E. Warren & other notables of the nineteenth century to Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen, Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia, George Nelson & others in the twentieth. Comparisons in INNOVATIVE FURNITURE IN AMERICA range from Gragg's early 19th century bentwood side chair to Gehry's plied cardboard contour rocker; from the anonymously designed chest-bed used by George Washington, c. 1780, to Henniger's elegant compact oak folding chair, c. 1970, created to refute the claim that there was nothing new left to do in furniture design... The scholarship in the book has become the standard reference book for collectors & scholars alike.Hanks, David A. is the author of 'Innovative Furniture in America from 1800 to the Present' with ISBN 9780818004513 and ISBN 0818004517.