Christ on a jet-ski....
Christ on a jet-ski.
Lunchbox and Straylight - you two ought to get a room together along with a Paul McCobb magazine centerfold.
There's tons of dealers all over the internet who attribute pieces in this style to Nelson. We could have easily just gone along with it. You're getting your panties in a bunch because we actually wanted more than that and came here seeking information.
What you call certainty is ridiculous, and you know it. In a court of law it would be dismissed as weak circumstantial evidence and opinion. It added more information but clarified nothing beyond what Arbuck had for Nelson in 1958 - if we take Straylights word for it. (Since he hasn't posted anything from the 1958 catalogue) But certainty is not saying a 1958 catalogue proves someone didn't design something in 1950. Certainty is not referring to a mysterious "Nelson Archive" that Stralight can't provide details about. (It's okay SL, you can admit if it's just a post-it note with "G. Nelson" on your bookshelf.)
All I've seen from Straylight so far my GF managed to accomplish with 1 hour and NYT and google news archive search. All of the "research" he provided to me only showed proof one curved chair being designed by Nelson, but that was already a known quantity. He provided nothing to show me any other 6 pieces he is now "certain" Nelson designed for Arbuck. He didn't even post photos from the 1958 Arbuck catalogue he's suddenly procured. Even if it is from 1958 I would still like to see these references he thinks are absolute proof - not just take his word for it.I do find it strange that the only other place the Arbuck 1958 catalogue is mentioned is in the Cooper-Hewitt archives, which requires staff or special permissions at the SI to access.
I'm not interested in the petty jealousies among dealers and fanatics in MCM circles. I know Straylight has a lot of time on his hands and has been trying to get a book published for years. I hope you can ride the McCobb coattails to some sort of minor notoriety. But for the moment you are a dedicated niche blogger with a McCobb fetish. If I had a pos McCobb design I'd be a bit more open to your opinions, but would still want proof not opinions and circumstantial information.
cont...
This a purely personal interest in trying to verify this piece, which if you haven't noticed we are interested in doing with almost everything we own. (We aren't selling it, we aren't dealers.)I came here for information not a MCM sissy fight.
At the moment we have three resources that are kindly helping with real research, with no MCM ego masturbation involved. A professional auction house that specializes in 20th century design, my gf's college friend who works within the SI (not in the C-H, but still are able to access some reference materials that might be helpful) and another who is considered an authority on Nelson (and widely published). It may take a few weeks but we will be happy to share the information (or lack of) that is uncovered.
Obviously, we hope it is a George Nelson design (who wouldn't) but it far more important to me is accuracy. We may always be unsure, we might get something that is absolute (for or against), time will tell.
I'm now going to, hopefully, await some real definitive information in the next few weeks. However, I won't be wasting any more time with pointless opinion, ego stoking and BS on here about the subject. I'll assume you both, hopefully, have better things to do with your time too.
- A.S.
Names Aside
on a purely aesthetic/ design level..
I just can't see ANY designer worth their salt infilling the back of a chair rest with an arbitary approximation of the leg formation of the accompanying table, it's just weak and sloppy design thinking, to my mind.
It's just not 'design'
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