INTERIORS
May 1954
Olga Gueft [Editor]
Olga Gueft [Editor]: INTERIORS. New York: Whitney Publications, Volume 113, no. 10, May 1954. Original edition. Slim quarto. Perfect bound and sewn printed illustrated wrappers. 190 pp. Illustrated articles and trade advertisements. Cover by Roberto Mango. Wrappers worn and soiled. A very good copy.
9 x 12 magazine with 190 pages of color and black and white examples of the best modern American interior and industrial design, circa 1954 -- offering a magnificent snapshot of the blossoming modern movement after World War II. A very desirable, vintage publication in terms of form and content: high quality printing and clean, functional design and typography and excellent photographic reproduction make this a spectacular addition to a midcentury design collection. Highly recommended.
Contents include:
- Cover artist portrait and short biography of Andy Warhol.
- 23rd annual conference of the American Institute of Decorators
- An interior to come by Melanie Kahane, A.I.D.
- Results of the A.I.D. competitions
- Contracts with manufacturers
- Pieds a terre by the A.I.D. president C. Eugene Stephenson
- The apt duplex of an antiques man by Yale R. Burge, A.I.D.
- The avant garde in the provinces: modern retail in New Orleans, Houston and Grosse Pointe
- Design in Scandinavia: a review by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. [6 pages with 17 b/w illustrations including work by Eric Herlow, Finn Juhl, Hans Wegner, Timo Sarpaneva and Ingeborg Lundin]
- Contemplative stage for philosophers by Edward L. Barnes: 2 pages with 3 b/w illustrations of the New York home of the United Lodge of Theosophists
- Ettore Sottsass loops brass around Plexiglas: 2 pages with 5 b/w illustrations of bowls and vases by the Italian architect
- A source that shows Sweden's mettle: Swedish Modern [2 pages with 6 b/w illustrations]
- The Tillets weave and print improved Fiberglas
- Breger-Salzman's new collection for Grosfeld House: 2 pages with 9 b/w illustrations
- Rugs and carpets '54: Interiors' annual review [6 well-illustrated pages]
- Directional's redecoration: the compleat McCobb [1 page with 3 b/w illustrations]
- Parzinger provides a provocative medley
- African masks by Arthur Nelson Snyder
- Vintage advertisements for Knoll, Harvey Probber, Herman Miller, Boris Kroll Fabrics, Lehigh, Paul McCobb for Directional, Kagan-Dreyfuss, Jens Risom Design, M. Singer and Sons, Ben Rose, Swedish Modern, Howard Miller Clock [George Nelson bubble lamps], Vakassian and Sons, Raymor and Thonet among others.
George Nelson famously served as Editorial contributor to Interiors, where he used the magazine as his bully pulpit for bringing modernism to middle-class America. Interiors was a hard-core interior design publication, as shown by their publishing credo: "Published for the Interior Designers Group which includes: interior designers, architects who do interior work, industrial designers who specialize in interior furnishings, the interior decorating departments of retail stores, and all concerned with the creation and production of interiors-- both residential and commercial." [interiors_2019]