KEM WEBER
THE MODERNE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 1920 - 1941
David Gebhard and Hariette von Breton [Curators]
David Gebhard and Hariette von Breton [Curators]: KEM WEBER: THE MODERNE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 1920 - 1941. Santa Barbara: The Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1969 / 1976. Second printing of 750 copies. Square quarto. Thick photographically printed wrappers. 108 pp. 113 black and white illustrations. Metallic ink on wrappers lightly rubbed [as usual], spine crown slightly pushed. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print. A well-preserved copy of this scarce and fragile catalog. A very good or bettercopy. Scarce.
8 x 8 perfect-bound exhibition catalogue with 108 pages and 113 black and white examples of Kem Weber's architecture, interiors, furniture, decorative arts, lighting, packaging and more. Catalogue for the Exhibition at the Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, from February 11 to March 23, 1969. This was the first exhibition in the United States to evaluate Art Deco and the Moderne as a design movement. Catalogue printed by Standard Printing of Santa Barbara and designed by David Gebhard.
Kem Weber (Germany, 1889 – 1963) trained as a furniture designer in Berlin before emigrating to Los Angeles in 1921 where he established a successful design practice creating luxurious furnishings based on contemporary French Art Deco examples. He was active in the formative years of the California modern design community as a furniture and industrial designer, architect and teacher. Weber explored his affinity for the streamlined style of the times, creating a number of pieces that anchored and inspired the growing West Coast aesthetic.
Weber was born in Berlin as Karl Emanuel Martin. He trained as a cabinetmaker under Eduard Schultz, a Royal Cabinetmaker. Weber entered the School of Decorative Arts in Berlin in 1908, where he studied with Bruno Paul. In 1910, while still a student, Weber became involved in supervising the German Pavilion construction at the Brussels World's Fair. After graduating in 1912, he continued to design for the government, notably helping to produce the German display for the San Francisco "Panama Pacific International Exposition" in 1915. Weber was sent to San Francisco to supervise construction and wound up being stranded there as WWI broke out in Europe and he was denied entrance back into Germany. Weber took the opportunity, however, to build a successful career in the States. He taught art in Santa Barbara, and opened his own design studio there. In 1921 he moved to Los Angeles and began working for Barker Bros., one of the major companies with an eye towards the future of interior designs. Around the time Weber became a US citizen in 1924, he had secured a position as Barker's Art Director and was responsible for furniture, store interiors and packaging. He also established the 'Modes and Manner' shop within the Barker Bros. store.
In the late 1920s Weber opened his own industrial design studio in Hollywood, and would continue to freelance in several different fields for the rest of his career. Among his influences he counted the strange bedfellows of Egyptian, Mayan, and clean European modernist design. Architectural commissions he took on included the Sommer & Kaufman shoe store in San Francisco (1929) and the Friedman residence in Banning (1928-29), both were interpretations of the International Style with an emphasis on a more decorative interior. During WWII he built prefabricated defense housing for the Douglas Fir Plywood Association in Tacoma. He designed items like cocktail shakers for Friedman Silver of New York between 1928-29 and clocks for Lawson Time Company in Alhambra between 1934-1935. In 1928 Weber also designed a room setting for the exhibit 'Exposition of Art in Industry' at Macy's.
Weber' took on the rounded corners of the streamlined style, almost obliterating any right angles in his work. Of his famous 'Airline' chair (1934-35), with rounded wooden corners and an upholstered seat and back, Weber wrote that he was driven by the "desire to make a comfortable, hygienic and beautiful chair inexpensively." The chair came disassembled and flat-packaged to be put together by the consumer. They enjoyed only a very limited manufacturing run, although the Walt Disney Studios ordered hundreds for their offices. This now-classic chair is an obvious precursor to the biomorphic plywood shapes that would soon become popular. Weber was able to capitalize on the visual trend of the period to design furniture that took on a sculptural quality within a space.
From 1931-1941 Weber was a teacher at the influential LA Art Center School. In 1945 he moved back to Santa Barbara where he designed private homes for the next decade.
David S. Gebhard (United States, 1927 – 1996) was a leading architectural historian, particularly known for his books on the architecture and architects of California. He was a long-time faculty member at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was dedicated to the preservation of Santa Barbara architecture.
Gebhard was born and raised in Minnesota; he received his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota in 1958. He served, for six years, as director of the Roswell Museum and Art Center in New Mexico, before moving to UC Santa Barbara in 1961. As a teacher he inspired many students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In addition to his long teaching career, he served as director of the University Art Museum for twenty years, building a small gallery into a significant accredited university museum. In this position, he initiated the Architectural Drawings Collection, now one of the leading West Coast repositories for architectural materials. With Robert Winter he co-authored guides to architecture in northern and southern California.
Gebhard was also active in service to his community, serving for many years on the Santa Barbara County Architectural Board of Review. He was active in the Society of Architectural Historians, and served a term as its president in the 1980s.
The David Gebhard Memorial Lecture Series is an annual event sponsored by Pasadena Heritage, an architectural preservation organization in Pasadena, California. [Wikipedia]