A rare Kem Weber chair shows, the European side of American modernism

Magazine Antiques, May, 2008 by Martin Filler

Although the eighty-year-old varnish of this happily unrestored chair has darkened to a honeyed maple color, the original pale hue is visible on portions of the frame that were protected from oxidation by the seat's upholstery. A tiny scrap of chartreuse leather discovered on the frame by Loughrey hints at the jazzy tonality of Weber's concept, but Waddell has decided to keep the unbleached muslin it came with. Apart from the neutral fabric imparting a kind of Winterthur seriousness, says Waddell, "The other thing I like about muslin is the clear message it communicates: 'Do Not Sit.'"

FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

(1) For more on Paul Frankl's Skyscraper furniture, see Christopher Long, "Paul T. Frankl's Skyscraper furniture," The Magazine ANTIQUES, vol. 173, no. 1 (January 2008), pp. 162-171.

MARTIN FILLER, a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and the author of Makers of Modern Architecture (2007), has written extensively on antiques.