Paul Mcobb  

I'm 50/50 on McCobb. I...
I'm 50/50 on McCobb. I really like some pieces and have zero interest in others though I get the impression there is quite a bit of stuff sold in his name that was not designed by him. I don't know the name of his various lines but I like the stuff with the small circular drawer pulls.

isnt it...
McCobb? not Mcobb... I see him as a great designer, But only cause growing up my grandparents home was all Paul McCobb so I have that attachment.
His work is simplistic, but has strong character with the extreme tapered legs which will give any square shaped item a new and attractive look.
His table and chair designs kept the classic warmth of an american styled dinner table and captains chairs, but modernized it with removing all the ugly ball shapes and being simplistic with the clean lines on the chairs and tables
He also had this interesting way with his storage where he would design an oversized coffee table and attach cabinets to it, It sorta felt "mickey moused" but at the same time had a cool design that no one else has.
McCobb is great in my opinion

I like McCobb
I have a number of pieces;
a square black Planner Group kitchen table with two black armchairs and two maple-stained side chairs
two single drawer Planner Group bedside tales (one black and one birch with round alumunum pulls)
a rectangular Planner Group dining table that I use in my basement as a folding table (not in very good condition)
a couple of Planner Group occasional tables
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I have the Directional book published by Schiffer that shows his beautiful, higher end designs.
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McCobb was always a bit different from the other major East Coast designers, because he did not have a traditional architecture background. His background was window dressing and interior designing for Jordan Marsh, a major Boston Department Store.
In my opinion, the very popular Planner Group group was clearly created to be a popularly priced alternative to George Nelson's Basic Storage group. I like the McCobb stuff, but his is not as iconicly original, compared to Nelson, Saarinen, van der Rohe, Jacobsen, Noguchi, Florence Knoll, etc.

He has grown on me more and...
He has grown on me more and more over the years. True, not as iconic. But aren't we tired of that yet? SImple and handsome most of it. Some of it, not so much. And a few pieces I love .... especially some of his brass/marble tables...

You're right, Whitespike
His stuff is underrated and undervalued. The marble and brass stuff is superior to the Planner Group pieces. I like them, but they sure have a tendency to split a bit at the seams! I had one of the maple stained side chairs crack right down the middle of the seat.

Do you think he is...
Do you think he is undervalued? At least some of his pieces seem rather highly valued.

Possibily
another problem as to why Paul McCobb isn't considered quite the giant that the Nelson's, Eames' and Saarinen's are might be for a couple of reasons.
First, he didn't design any 'drop dead' individual pieces that were immediately glommed up by the Museum of Modern Art, etc., like Nelson, Jacobsen, Eames, Bertoia, Saarinen, Kagan, etc. In that way, he's more in the Probber, Baughmann and Risum group of modern, yet somewhat conservative designers.
The other possible reason was that he hooked up his products with smaller companies and finally, he kicked the bucket quite early...well before the MCM craze started.
When the craze first started, all of McCobb's pieces were well discontinued and some of the earliest books on mid-century modern focused more on the more iconic and unusual of the "good stuff". (After all, there's no Ribbon, Egg, Swan, exposed fiberglass, Womb or Grasshopper chair in McCobb's cannon of well designed furniture!)

Barry...
...Paul McCobb died in 1969. How is that well after the MCM craze got started?

Good Design
The perception that Paul McCobb's work was not picked up by the Museum of Modern Art is untrue, there are a number of pieces in their permanent collection. What is true is that his work has not been re-exhibited since it was placed into the collection.
It's my belief that his ill health post 1959 and early death in 1969 played a significant role in his not maintaining the spotlight as did some of the other players in the field.
I see the current interest in Mid Century design as having started picking up around 1988 with the re-issuing of many classic designs by Herman Miller and others.
From my research and contact with the McCobb family I know that there was serious attempt at this time to re-release several of McCobb's designs. Unfortunately this attempt never came to fruition due to previous contractual obligations, again placing him on the sidelines of public perception.
http://paulmccobb.blogspot.com

DWR
If DWR continues their current wave of resurrecting trendy designers, they may be interested in licensing/producing some of McCobb's work.

Straylight - could you tell...
Straylight - could you tell us which McCobb pieces are held by MoMA?

I just checked
at moma.org and they don't show to have anything in their collection database by Mc Cobb. (I checked Paul McCobb and Paul Mc Cobb)

MOMA
1951 "Good Design" Exhibition press release.
http://www.moma.org/docs/press_archives/1522/releases/MOMA_1951_0040.pdf

I gained a lot more respect f...
I gained a lot more respect for McCobb as I learned more about him, but I remember being a bit snobby about him at one point -- I thought of McCobb along the lines of that Conant Ball stuff.