Rare 'WPDW' (Wound Ply Dinner Wagon)
1930s
Designed in 1934 and likely executed the same year.
Stained ash plywood, brass
Provenance:
Barry Friedman Ltd, New York, U.S;
Sandy and Sherwin Schreier, Southfield, Michigan, U.S.
Exhibited:
Bent Wood and Metal Furniture 1850-1946, New York, 1987.
Another example in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, under accession number W.7-2020.
History:
This trolley design is Summers' only documented design for the company Isokon. Isokon was founded by Jack Pritchard and Welles Coates and sold furniture by other mid-century modernist designers such as Alvar Aalto and Marcel Breuer. Jack Pritchard commissioned Summers to create a dinner wagon, however, the trolley was not a commercial success. Only very few were sold, and after a few years Isokon declined to take up the licence. The trolley was featured in the 'Bent Wood and Metal Furniture 1850 - 1946', September 1986 to October 1988, organised by The American Federation of Arts and which travelled to nine institutions around the US.
Literature:
Ostergard, Derek, 'Bent Wood and Metal Furniture 1850-1946', University of Washington (USA) 1987, p. 319, fig. 107 (this example illustrated).
Dunn, Steve, 'Gerald Summers: Furniture for the Concrete Age', 2011, p.14-15.
Ref: 2210045
| H | 67cm/26.4" |
| W | 96cm/37.8" |
| D | 43cm/16.9" |
H. 67cm/26.4"
W. 96cm/37.8"
D. 43cm/16.9"