Tag Archives: Norman Bel Geddes

Weekend find – Zephyr Cocktail Shaker

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As the flea market season winds down, I was able to score a weekend find of note from the Golden Nugget Flea Market. The Zephyr Cocktail Shaker was produced by Revere between 1937-1941.  It isn’t in perfect condition. But these are hard to find in the wild. And the price, at $10.00, was right. Designed by William Welden, the name is an homage to streamlined look of the most modern train of the time, the 1934 Pioneer Zephyr.

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Comparing the shaker to the train, it is easy to see the direct influence.

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Revere has roots based in revolutionary history, as in Paul Revere. For an in-depth look at the early years of the company, please go to Revere ware history  Through the years, it became Rome Manufacturing in 1892, a division of Rome Brass Copper located in Rome, NY.  The Rome Factory’s impressive output included general metal work with everything from button fasteners to locomotives. Quite a catalogue! At the peak of production, they claimed to have over 10,000 different home products!

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Originally, much of their inventory consisted of home wares made with a copper base plated in nickel and later, chrome. Developments in production techniques during the 1920’s made it a leader in brass manufacturing.

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In 1928 they merged with several northeastern copper manufacturers. And by 1929 the conglomerate was known as Revere Copper and Brass Corporation. It was now the largest producer of copper products. The upgraded Rome Manufacturing, Rome, NY plant was delegated the (less prestigious) cookware line. The newly produced items bore the hallmark “Rome”, reflecting the importance of the merger. They had a few glitches along the way with their chrome plated cookware. But that is another story.

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The giftware line was added in 1935 possibly to boost sales after the depression. The hallmark on these items bear an altered stamp that added “Revere” under “Rome”. The high-quality items produced were in competition with other better giftware lines made by Chase, Manning-Bowman, Kensington and others. Part of Revere Copper and Brass Co.’s success was due to employing some of the best known and critically acclaimed industrial designers of the day. The clean lines are the “modern look”, what we now call Art Deco.

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Along with the designing the elegant Zephyr Cocktail Shaker, William A. Weldon also designed the hard-to-find Empire Cocktail Cups. These versatile cups are paired with many cocktail sets and work especially well when paired with the Zephyr. With the elegance of all his creations, his most popular design for Revere was a 1950 tea kettle.

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Norman Bel Geddes’ first commission for Revere Copper and Brass Corporation was a line of a line of beds in 1934.  He was rehired to design part of their new Revere giftware line. Some iconic pieces include the Manhattan Cocktail set, and 5 o’clock canape trays. The Cocktail Hour Tray with the etched Norseman design pictured above with Weldon’s Empire cups is often misidentified as the Zephyr Tray so seamlessly do the designs work together. To see a catalog of Bel Geddes’ work for Revere, please click HERE .

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Fred Farr contributed the Scroll line to Revere.  His bookends incorporate simple rolled steel in either a single or double design. Fairly easy to find, they come in a variety of stains and colors.  Some are smooth and others carved. Unique pieces incorporate clocks, barometers and thermometers.  Often attributed to Walter Von Nessen, the Scroll Magazine stand is an elegant addition to any modern home.

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Unfortunately, production ceased on the Revere Giftware catalog in 1941 with onset of WWII. The conscription of metal and conversion of production to the war effort ended the beautiful and popular line. Although never revived by Revere Copper and Brass Corporation after the war, some of the designs were sold to and produced by other manufacturers.

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Thanks for reading and happy hunting!

Chris & Anthony (the Freakin’ ‘ tiquenGuys)

 

 

Virtual Visits: Dallas Museum of Art

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Vintage 1940s Dallas postcard.

Vintage Dallas, Texas postcard, circa 1940. From gettyimages.com.

 

Back in 2014 on our Freakin’ ‘Tiquen trip in Texas, we made sure to visit the Dallas Museum of Art. First we started our day at Fair Park, to see the largest collection of intact 1930’s World’s Fair buildings. Being July in Texas it was hot. With the temperature hitting 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39.4 Celsius), the Dallas Museum of Art provided a perfect spot to cool off. And to our surprise there were many great Art Deco objects on display.

 

The exterior of the Dallas Museum of Art.

The Dallas Museum of Art. Image from facebook.com/DallasMuseumofArt

 

The origins of the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) date back to the beginning of the 20th Century. In 1903 the Dallas Art Association began exhibiting works of art at The Dallas Public Library. Their collection grew rapidly during the next few decades and in 1932 was renamed the Dallas Museum of Fine Art. Needing a much larger space, the museum moved to a building at Fair Park during the Centennial Exposition in 1936. The 1963 merger of the Dallas Museum of Fine Art with Dallas Museum of Contemporary Art greatly increased the size of the collection. It was soon realized that the combined collections needed a larger home. Fund raising commenced in 1979 and the new building opened to the public in January, 1984.

 

Today the museum houses more than 24,000 works of art from around the world dating from the ancient to the contemporary. This includes more than 8,000 pieces of design and decorative arts.  Reuben Haley, Norman Bel Geddes and Walter Dorwin Teague are some of the interwar period designers whose works are in the DMA collection.

 

At present the DMA is open to the public, but for many, traveling is still not a viable option. Luckily the museum does provide online access to its collection. The navigation of the site is a little tricky, so here are a few keywords to help you find some great Art Deco pieces.

 

The homepage of the Dallas Museum of Art. The virtual visit begins here.

Here is the Dallas Museum of Art homepage. This is where the virtual visit begins.

 

To start your visit, go to the DMA home page. From the banner menu choose “Art”, this will open a drop down menu. In the drop down menu click on “Collection’.

 

The start of the DMA virtual visit.

This is the start of your DMA virtual visit.

 

Clicking on “Collection” will bring you to this window.

 

By click on the "Search the Collection" box your "visit" to the Dallas Museum of Artbegins.

Your “visit” begins by clicking on the “Search the Collection” box at the bottom of the screen.

After clicking on “SEARCH THE COLLECTION” you will be brought to the page where a search term can be entered.

 

The DMA "Type your search" window.

The “Type your search” window.

 

On my first virtual visit I used the term “Art Deco”.

 

Type in "Art Deco".

Type in “Art Deco”.

 

Hit enter after typing in “Art Deco”.

 

The results from using the term "Art Deco" on the Dallas Museum of Art website.

The results from using the term “Art Deco”.

 

It surprised me that using the term “Art Deco” only brought up 33 results. To be sure some nice collection items came up. But some of the results weren’t items but windows saying “TIME & PLACES French Art Deco”. Choosing this will give you a great and succinct description of French Art Deco.

 

French Art Deco description.

DMA description of French Art Deco.

 

Choosing a photograph of an item and clicking on it will bring you to the a very detailed page describing the piece with multiple photos. Here is the page about a very wonderful Daum Frères glass vase from the late 1920s.

 

Daum Frères vase in the DMA collection.

Item details of a Daum Frères vase in the DMA collection.

 

Scrolling down brings you to a general description of the Daum Frères company and the vase.

 

General description of the Daum Frères company.

General description of the Daum Frères company on the page for the vase.

 

To find more Art Deco items a better search term to use is “modernism”.

 

Using the search term "modernism" at the Dallas Museum of Art's website.

Using the search term “Modernism”.

 

“Modernism” brings up 777 results. And any item in the Dallas Museum of Art’s collection that is tagged with the term will come up, including paintings, ceramics, glassware, etc. These pieces are not exclusive to the interwar period but it is easy to scroll down the page to find some iconic Art Deco objects.

 

Modernism search results.

Search results using the word “modernism”.

 

Here is a  1925 Square Modern Fulper Pottery teapot designed by Reuben Haley who is probably best known for creating Ruba Rombic a few years later.

 

Square Modern in the Dallas Museum of Art collection.

Reuben Haley’s Square Modern teapot for Fulper Pottery, 1925.

 

The Dallas Museum of Art is also home to some great modern paintings. Here is Razor by Gerald Murphy from 1924. Depicting objects for the 1920s man, a box of matches, fountain pen and safety razor, this painting is a prototype of the pop art movement of the 1940s.

 

Razor, 1924 by Gerald Murphy.

Razor, 1924 by Gerald Murphy.

 

Another way to search is by artist / designer. Having visited the museum back in 2013, I know they have pieces by Walter Dorwin Teague. Here is the result by searching with Teague’s name.

 

Searching the Dallas Museum of Art's website for Walter Dorwin Teague returns 27 results.

Search results for Walter Dorwin Teague.

 

The Sparton "Bluebird" Model 566 radio designed by Walter Dorwin Teague.

The details of Teague’s 1935 Sparton Model 566 “Bluebird” radio.

 

These are only a few of the many great items in the DMA collection. So until you can  get there safely, take a virtual tour. Plus you will also get to “see” a lot of items that are not currently on view. Just one last piece of advice, I do find “visiting” on my laptop is easier to navigate that on my smart phone.

 

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