Tag Archives: Donald Deskey

George Switzer Micarta Trays for Westinghouse

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If you had asked me, before June 23rd, if I knew who George Switzer was I would have replied no. If you had also asked me if I had ever heard of Micarta, I would have said what’s that? In just two days (it’s June 25th as I start to write this), I now know who George Switzer was and what Micarta is. Now you maybe asking, how did I come into such knowledge or perhaps more accurately, why would I care? Well on Sunday June 23rd, Chris and I went to the Golden Nugget Flea Market. Past readers will know that this is a favorite flea market of ours. Anyway, a vendor had on his table a striking orange and black tray with an aluminum frame. In the center of the tray is a stylized sail boat, moon and star of dyed aluminum embedded in a black band. Two strips of anodized aluminum separate the black band from the orange. It easily caught my eye and after Chris negotiated with the seller to bundle the tray with a Manning-Bowman chrome powder box we got both items for a very good price. I would learn how good the deal was a little later that morning.

 

The 1933 Nocturne Tray.

The 1933 Nocturne Micarta tray, designed by George Switzer for Westinghouse. From the author’s collection.

 

In the car on the way home, I Googled “Art Deco black and orange tray with sail boat”.  One of the results was a 1stdibs.com dealer who is selling the tray and described it as being designed by George Switzer for Westinghouse. Now I was able to dig deeper into this tray’s history. I also learned that Switzer designed five other Micarta trays for Westinghouse in 1932. So now I wanted to find out exactly what was Micarta.

 

Micarta

Under pressure and high heat a combination of linen, canvas, paper, fiberglass and other fabrics, creates a laminate that Westinghouse branded as Micarta.

When introduced in the early 1910s, Micarta’s usage was for electrical equipment. An article in Machinery described the new material:

MICARTA – A SUBSTITUTE FOR FIBER, RAWHIDE, HARD RUBBER, ETC.

A remarkable new material to take the place of hard fiber, glass, hard rubber, molded compounds, etc. has been developed by the Westinghouse Electrical and Mfg, Co, East Pittsburg, Pa. The material, which is known as “Micarta” is used for brush holder insulation, gear blanks, conduit for automobile wiring, for arc shields in circuit-breakers.

Micarta is a hard, tan colored material having a mechanical strength about fifty per cent greater than hard fiber. Micarta is not brittle and will not warp, expand or shrink with age or exposure to the weather but takes a high polish, presenting a finished appearance. 

Machinery, August, 1913, Pg. 942

To expand the market for Micarta, Westinghouse developed new uses for Micarta by the late 1920’s. They began manufacturing it in a variety of colors and patterns, such as wood grain or marble, making it perfect for wall panelling.

 

Westinghouse booklet of Micarta from the early 1930's.

Pages 6 & 7 from an early 1930’s Westinghouse booklet showing the many decorative uses of Micarta. Image from the Internet Archive.

 

George Switzer

George Switzer (1900 – 1940). Photo from the New York Times, October 9, 1940.

In 1932, Westinghouse thought Micarta would be a perfect material for decorative trays. They contracted industrial designer George Switzer to design a series of trays for the company. Although mostly forgotten today (he doesn’t even have a Wikipedia entry), in the 1930’s Switzer was a well known as Gilbert Rohde, Donald Deskey and Henry Dreyfuss.

Born in Plymouth, Indiana on March 6, 1900, Switzer graduated with honors from the University of Illinois. In Chicago, after college, he found employment with the advertising firm Wasey & Co. In two years he left to go work for Young & Rubicam in New York. This led to his designing everything from envelope stickers, messengers’ uniforms and delivery trucks for Kurt H. Volk, Inc., typographers. This work established his name and in 1929 Switzer set out on his own opening his own designing and consulting firm. He produced designs for sixty-five companies encompassing all sorts of things including letter heads, sausage labels and a Roll-Royce car body. In 1937, against 12,000 other entries he won two of the three awards in the “All America Package Competition” with his modernistic package designs for  the Eagle Pencil Company and the Geo. A. Hormel Company.

In 1940, Switzer underwent an operation for mastoiditis. While recuperating at his cousin’s home in Prattsville, New York, he died suddenly in the early morning hours of October 8th at the age of forty. His body is interred at the Oak Hill Cemetery,  Plymouth, Indiana, his hometown.

 

Westinghouse Micarta Trays

Looking for new uses for Micarta, Westinghouse approached Switzer. In 1932 he designed five modernistic, Micarta trays for the company. Retailing for around $5.00, these trays were available in finer stores by the 1932 Christmas season.

 

Westinghouse Micarta logo.

Westinghouse Micarta logo stamped into the back of the 1932 trays. Image from Decaso.com

 

 

 

December, 1932 Harper's Bazaar, Pg. 57.

Christmas 1932 men’s gift suggestions from Harper’s Bazaar. Under the gadgets section is the striped Micarta tray for $5.00 available at Bonwit Tellers. Magazine page from ProQuest.com

 

Walter Rendell Storey in his October 30, 1932, New York Times Sunday Magazine article on interior design had this to say of these new trays:

New trays of diverse and interesting kinds have recently appeared in response to a growing  consciousness of their varied uses and decorative possibilities. Some of the latest ones are combinations of wood and metal; others are synthetic compounds immune to cigarette burns and beverage stains. 

Of the new trays, perhaps the most striking is a series of beverage trays with designs developed in thin sheets of varied-hued aluminum inlaid on a glossy black ground. The motifs have been developed in a contemporary manner; there is one entitled “Dynamic,” which the designer, George Switzer, has interpreted by a stylized airplane. The traditional theme, “Nocturne,” has a sail boat beneath a yellow crescent moon with the deep-green water lighted by a streak of vermilion. For the period room the designer has created a most effective arrangement of empire motifs, namely, the arrow, star and laurel wreath of victory. These trays are stamped out from under enormous pressure from a material originally developed for insulating electric light switches. 

New York Times, Sunday Magazine, October 30, 1932, Pgs. 12 & 15.

 

In 1933 Switzer modified the Nocturne tray. A frame of aluminum, with handles, encompassed bands of orange and black Micarta. A slight rearrangement of the moon and star was another difference on this tray. For the 1933 Christmas season Westinghouse offered this tray as a special promotional item. When buying another Westinghouse product at full price, the Nocturne could be yours for just one dollar ($20.00 in 2019).

 

Westinghouse 1933 Christmas promotion.

Westinghouse 1933 Christmas advertisement, featuring the $1.00 Nocturne tray promotion. Ad from the New York Herald-Tribune, December 10, 1933, Pg. SM15

 

The above ad mentions the “Stunning $3.95 Micarta tray a gorgeous Christmas Gift for only $1.00”. I have yet to find evidence of this tray being sold  anytime earlier in the year. It appears it was only used for the Christmas promotion. And, if that is the case, such a short production life explains its rarity today.

As I mentioned earlier in the post, while Googling for info about the tray, I found two selling on line. One on ebay and the other from a high end antique store specializing in Art Deco items. Both are selling for over $1,100.00.

The Nocturne has even become part of the permanent collections at the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Yale University Art Gallery.

 

1933 Nocturne in the Yale University Art Gallery collection.

1933 Nocturne Tray, Yale University Art Gallery. Photograph from artgallery.yale.edu.

 

So now that I have the 1933 tray, I want to get the five 1932 trays. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

 

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

 

 

A Visit to the Cooper Hewitt Museum

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The Jazz Age exhibition now at the Cooper Hewitt.

The Jazz Age American Style in the 1920’s at the Cooper Hewitt Museum until August 20, 2017. Poster for the exhibit on the fence outside the museum grounds.

 

One of the current exhibits at the Cooper Hewitt Museum, The Jazz Age, American Style in the 1920s, is a must see for any lover of Art Deco. The Cooper Hewitt, a division of the Smithsonian is the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historical and contemporary design. The Cooper Hewitt’s home is in the former Andrew Carnegie mansion at 5th Avenue and 91st Street, New York City. Completed in 1903 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966, the Cooper Hewitt opened there in 1976.

 

The Cooper Hewitt Museum and Garden.

The Cooper Hewitt Museum and garden. Image from cooperhewitt.org

 

The entrance to the Jazz Exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museuem

The Jazz Age Exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York City.

 

The Jazz Age is an exhibition in collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art. Encompassing all aspects of mid-1920’s through mid-1930’s modern design from furniture, to clothing to jewelry to art the exhibit is so large that it takes up two floors of the Cooper Hewitt. Going up the main staircase to the exhibit there are two large panels of wall covering from the Ziegfeld Theatre (1927-1966).

 

 

Ziegfeld Theatre interior.

The interior of the Ziegfeld Theatre, showing a portion of Joseph Urban’s mural The Joy of Life. Image from Pinterest.

The panels are oil on canvas and are on loan from the collection of Richard H. Driehaus. Period photographs do not justice to the mural, it comes to life when seen in color. When entering the exhibit proper there is a remarkable mirror, lamp and console table.

 

Collection of items from the Rose Iron Works, 1930.

Rose Iron Works mirror, console table and lamp, circa, 1930. On loan to the Cooper Hewitt from the Rose Iron Works Collection. Rose Iron Works, Cleveland, Ohio.

1930 Rose Iron Works mirror.

Paul Fehèr designed mirror for the Rose Iron Works, 1930.

Rose Iron Works console table.

Console table made by the Rose Iron Works in 1930. Designed by Paul Fehèr. Because of the Depression the table went unsold.

Paul Kiss Studio lamp from the late 1920s.

Paul Kiss Studio lamp circa, 1927. Purchased by the Rose Iron Works for inspiration when they began creating items in modern design.

 

Glass

Throughout the exhibit one can see many of the finest examples of glass produced in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Here are some examples that caught our eye.

 

Daum Frères glass vase, circa 1925 -1 930.

French vase produced by Daum Frères, circa 1925 – 1930. Using animals as a decorative motif was popular in the Art Deco era. And especially popular was the leaping gazelle such as the one seen on this cased glass vase. This vase is on loan from the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Gazelle Bowl (Steuben Glass, Inc.,  1935) designed by Sidney Waugh is prominently displayed on the second floor of the exhibit. This is one of the most iconic pieces of glass to come out of the era between the World Wars.

The Gazelle Bowl.

Steuben Glass’ Gazelle Bowl, 1935. Designed by Sidney Waugh.

 

The 1926 vase Tourbillons (Whirlwinds) designed by Suzanne Lalique went into production by René Lalique. Created through mass production pressing and hand-carving and accented with black enamel, it was a new look and technique in decorative glass. It was one of the French objects in Lord and Taylor’s  1928 Exposition of Modern French Decorative Art. One of the earliest shows in the United States of the new decorative style.

Tourbillons Vase, Lalique.

Tourbillons (Whirlwinds) Vase, 1926. Designed by Suzanne Lalique and put into production by René Lalique. Part of the Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts Department.

 

Another classic Lalique vase on display is the Beauvais Vase of 1931. Designed by Suzanne Lalique, like Tourbillons. It is part of the Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Beauvais Vase, 1931.

Suzanne Lalique’s Beauvais Vase of 1931. Put into production by René Lalique. Part of the Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts Department.

Two Walter Dorwin Teague designs for Steuben Glass made it into the exhibit. Teague hired on a one year contract to Steuben to make it the finest glass company in America. Using the then current Scandinavian trend of pale or colorless glass, one his designs was a spherical bowl. The bowl dates from 1932.

 

Teague bowl for Steuben, 1932.

Steuben Glass bowl designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, 1932. In the Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts Department.

Teague's Lens bowl for Steuben Glass.

Walter Dorwin Teague’s Lens Bowl for Steuben Glass, 1932. Part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Teague derived his inspiration for the lens bowl from the glass lenses the Corning Glass Works produced from railroad signals and locomotive lights. Most of the glass Teague designed for Steuben ended production in 1933 when his contract with the company expired.

 

Ruba Rombic display sign, 1928.

Ruba Rombic an Epic in Modern Art

 

In an enclosed case there are several pieces of this very rare glass. Designed by Reuben Haley for the Consolidated Glass Company, his inspiration came from items he had seen at the 1925 Paris Exposition. When debuted at the 1928 Pittsburgh Glass Fair one trade journal wrote:

“it is the craziest thing ever brought out in glassware . . . The first reaction is all but shock, yet the more pieces are studied, the more they appeal and there comes a realization that with all their distorted appearance they have a balance that is perfect and are true specimens of cubist art.”

Ruba Rombic was only in production for a few years. Due to the depression, Consolidated closed its doors in 1932. When they reopened in 1936 Ruba Rombic would no longer be part of their line. The cubism of the glassware, so avant-garde in the late 1920’s would have looked very dated by 1936 as streamlining became the popular new design form.

 

Jungle Green 10 inch Ruba Rombic Vase.

Ruba Rombic 10 inch vase in Jungle Green. Product Design and Decorative Arts collection – Cooper Hewitt.

 

Ruba Rombic Toilet Bottle in Smokey Topaz.

Toilet Bottle in Smokey Topaz. Ruba Rombic was available in eight standard colors. Smokey Topaz and Jungle Green are the colors most commonly found. This bottle is part of the Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.

 

Ruba Rombic Jade 7 inch vase.

7 inch vase in Jade (cased glass). Cased glass Ruba Rombic has a higher value than the clear colors of Jungle Green and Smokey Topaz. Product Design and Decorative Arts collection – Cooper Hewitt.

 

Furniture

So many iconic pieces of furniture were on display that it is hard to pick just a few for this post. But here are a few of our favorites –

 

Barcelona Chair

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Chair MR 90 (Barcelona chair) by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, 1929.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair (Model MR 90) of 1929. Manufactured by the Berliner Metallgewerbe in 1930. On loan from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

This chair is often thought of as a Mid-Century Modern design. In actuality, van der Rohe created it in 1929 for the German Pavilion at the International Exposition, Barcelona, Spain. The chair so forward in its design that it is still in production to this day.

 

Marcel Breuer’s B3 (Wassily) Chair

Marcel Breuer's Wassily or B3 Chair.

Marcel Breuer’s B3 Chair, better known as the Wassily chair. Designed in 1925 and manufactured in 1927, it was one of the first pieces of furniture to use tubular chrome steel. Tubular steel became a very popular modern furniture material during the interwar years. This chair is part of the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt.

 

Lounge, LC4

Designed by Le Corbusier, Charlotte Periand &

Pierre Jeanneret

Lounge, LC4 1928

Designed in 1928, the LC in the name stands for “long chair”. The lounge follows the human form. The LC4 is on loan from the Brooklyn Museum.

 

Corner Cabinet, ca. 1923

Jacques Ruhlmann

Early Deco cabinet. 1923

Corner Cabinet designed by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann. Kingwood veneer on mahogany with ivory inlay. This piece is on loan from the Brooklyn Museum.

 

A corner cabinet designed by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann in 1923 for the residence of A. Weitz of Lyon, France. Two years later Ruhlmann was one of the principal designers exhibiting at the 1925 Paris Exposition. His designs were a great influence at the start of the Art Deco era.

 

Skyscraper Bookcase Desk

Paul T. Frankl, ca. 1928

Frankl’s “Skyscraper” line of furniture captured the optimism and exuberance of the United States in the late 1920’s. The bookcase desk is quintessential of this line and how it mimics the setback look of then current construction trends.

1928 Skyscraper bookcase desk.

Paul Frankl bookcase desk from his “Skyscraper” furniture line. On loan from the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

 

Donald Deskey

Table, ca. 1928

Donald Deskey table.

Donald Deskey table for the Ypsilanti Reed Furniture Company and Deskey-Vollmer, ca. 1928. Part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department of the Cooper Hewitt Museum.

This table is a good example of Donald Deskey’s use of mixed media combining chrome with wood and a painted abstract detail.

 

K.E.M. Weber

Sideboard and Chair, 1928-29

 

K.E.M. Weber group.

Sideboard and chair designed by K.E.M. Weber in 1928. Green painted wood and faux leather. On loan from The Cleveland Museum of Art.

Los Angeles based industrial designer, architect and artist created this set in the late 1920’s. Pieces from this group can be seen in several films such as King of Jazz (Universal, 1930) and Trouble in Paradise (Paramount, 1932).

 

Airline Chair, 1934

Airline Chair by K.E.M. Weber, 1934.

1934 Airline Chair by K.E.M. Weber. Part of Cooper Hewitt’s Product Design and Decorative Arts Department.

 

One of the first assemble yourself pieces of furniture, K.E.M. Weber’s Airline Chair of 1934 is an iconic piece of streamline style furniture from the mid-1930’s. For more on Weber and this chair, check out this article by Ben Marks and Lisa Hix from Collector’s Weekly.

 

These are only a very few of the iconic Art Deco items in this amazing exhibit. If you like 20th Century design this is a don’t miss show. The exhibit runs through August 20th at the Cooper Hewitt Museum before moving to The Cleveland Museum of Art. In Cleveland land it will run from September 20, 2017 through January 14, 2018.

 

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

 

If you enjoyed this post check out this earlier one:

Walter Dorwin Teague Treasures at the Dallas Museum of Art