HARVEY PROBBER (Brooklyn, New York, 1922-Greenwich,... Lot 69

HARVEY PROBBER (Brooklyn, New York, 1922-Greenwich, Connecticut, 2003). Coffee or game table. Walnut top with a terrazzo insert and ebonized wood base. Brass feet. Good condition. Measurements: 62 x 127 x 127 cm. The bidding table is raised on four ebonized wood legs supported by brass feet. They are joined two by two by means of crossed crossbeams. The walnut tabletop gives way in its center to a removable terrazzo circumference. Considered the father of "modular seating" (he is credited with its invention in the 1940s), Harvey Probber was part of the generation that gave rise to American modernism with creators such as Herman Miller, Hans Knoll, Georg Tanier and Jack Lenor Larsen. He founded Harvey Probber, Inc. in 1945 and, by the mid-20th century, Harvey Probber had become one of America's leading designers. His idiom favored the use of exotic woods, highly polished lacquers, hand-rubbed finishes and opulent upholstery, materials largely abandoned by more radical Bauhaus-influenced designers. Probber's work has received two "Best of Neocon" gold awards from the Resource Council of the Institute of Business Designers for the Houston Chair (1977) and the Advent III Customization Program (1981). He never abandoned his interest in seating modules and continued to explore variations of the concept.