Jim Linderman blog about surface, wear, form and authenticity in self-taught art, outsider art, antique american folk art, antiques and photography.
Atomic Ranch Magazine PRINTS MY LETTER (!) Mid-Century Chair with Amateur Design Mastery
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Having abandoned Manhattan for Michigan three years ago, and having been fortunate enough to purchase a 1963-built ranch house in beautiful condition, ATOMIC RANCH has become one of my favorite magazines. Which is why I sent them a few photographs and a question about the child-sized mid-century design chair I found in an antique mall. I thought it a most sculptural homemade piece with superb design...a tiny Calder in my living room! But it had no manufacturer listed, it is clearly a homemade or, hopefully, a prototype.
Two years went by and I never heard back from the magazine. Much to my surprise, here it is in the Summer 2011 issue with my photos, my chair, my question and my bananas! They seem as puzzled as I was, but the effort sure is appreciated.
Now what Atomic Ranch doesn't know is that in the intervening two years, I FOUND THE ANSWER! I'm not printing it here, who wants to spoil the fun? I'm going to wait and see what kind of guesses come in and send them the answer after.
It is a beautiful little chair...and since I now live less than a gallon of gas from Herman Miller, My eye is increasingly shifting from folk art to retro modern whatever. Plus, I have a house to fill!
Thanks to Atomic Ranch. It is a superb magazine, I recommend it highly, and their website HERE provides a generous sample of what they do. I only wish it was a monthly instead of a quarterly.
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Very cool, Jim! I have never heard of that magazine, but thanks for the shout out. A subscription to it might be a good gift for my daughter and SIL who have a mid-century house full of retro modern including Eames,Herman Miller and Arne Jacobsen.
ReplyDeleteMondoblogo gave a detailed explanation of this chair a few months ago.
ReplyDeletehttp://mondo-blogo.blogspot.com/2011/05/rare-and-highly-undesirable.html
Yes, Mondo...I saw it. I found MY origin by actually coming acros a small illustration
ReplyDeletein an actual copy of the craft magazine! I am saving it to see what else turns up, but these are clearly made woth the same design patterns.
Thanks for taking the time to write in.