As part of the "Art + Design" online vacation, PIASA is offering for sale a pair of armchairs by New York designer Harvey Probber.
Harvey Probber (1922-2003)
Pair of armchairs
4000 / 6000 €
Harvey Probber was born in Brooklyn in the early 1920s. While attending Samuel J. Tilden High School, he held a part-time job in a used furniture store. After graduation, he designed furniture for Trade Upholstery, a small manufacturing plant on West 17th Street in New York City, before setting up his own studio in 1945.
In contrast to more radical, Bauhaus-influenced designers, Harvey Probber's approach favours exotic woods, highly polished lacquer, hand-rubbed finishes and sumptuous upholstery fabrics. Three years later, seeing the potential of the interior design market, he opened a showroom in New York at 136 Fifth Avenue.
Thus, in just over a decade, Harvey Probber's studio has become one of the leading contemporary furniture companies in the United States. Several of his pieces were included in the "Good Design" exhibition at MoMA in 1951.
This pair of armchairs is estimated at between 4,000 and 6,000 euros. The sobriety of the marriage of textile and wood is evident in this pair of armchairs. These pieces with their assertive geometry are characteristic of Harvey Probber's production in the mid-1950s.
Harvey Probber, attributed to
Bench
Result: 20800 €
For several years now, the pieces of this American designer have aroused real interest among collectors around the world. For example, at an auction organised in May 2017 by PIASA, the bench made of wood, velvet and brass was sold for more than 20,000 euros.