Playing on Furniture
February 2007
In the past couple of years, auction houses nationwide have begun to include Dickinson pieces in
their 20th-century design sales. “They hold particular allure for contemporary art collectors who find Dickinson’s primitive, edgy designs connect with their art,” says Bofferding, who is writing a book on the designer. In 2004 Los Angeles Modern Auctions sold a three-legged table Dickinson had adapted from an Ugandan traveling stool for $22,325 (est. $4,000–$6,000), and Sotheby’s New York sold a coffee table with animal-form legs (est. $18,000–$24,000) for $54,000. More recently Bonhams & Butterfields in Los Angeles offered an 11-lot group, including a pair of plaster hoofed tables, that brought $32,312 (est. $20,000–$30,000). “Dickinson took classical forms and gave them an unexpected twist,” says Frank Maraschiello, New York–based director of the auction house’s 20th-century furniture and decorative arts department. A single-owner collection at wright in Chicago also commanded strong prices. A pair of plaster-and-linen lamps sold for $42,000 (est. $15,000–$20,000) and a rope stool brought $25,200 (est. $10,000–$15,000). “They were Dickinson’s best forms,” says Richard Wright, head of the auction house.
New York dealer Liz O’Brien, a specialist in mid-century furniture, often stocks works by Dickinson and currently has a half-dozen pieces, including a tin console table and a plaster Etruscan table. Prices range from $8,000 to $35,000. “Dickinson’s furniture designs have an object-like quality,” she says. “Placed in an interior, they act like sculpture.”
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Bone table lamp, |
New York dealer Liz O’Brien, a specialist in mid-century furniture, often stocks works by Dickinson and currently has a half-dozen pieces, including a tin console table and a plaster Etruscan table. Prices range from $8,000 to $35,000. “Dickinson’s furniture designs have an object-like quality,” she says. “Placed in an interior, they act like sculpture.”
New York correspondent Doris Goldstein frequently reports on design and the decorative arts for Art & Antiques.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
►Bonhams & Butterfields
Los Angeles, 323.850.7500
New York, 212.717.9007
www.butterfields.com
►Liz O’Brien
New York, 212.755.3800
www.lizobrien.com
►Los Angeles Modern Auctions
Peter Loughrey, head.
323.904.1950
www.lamodern.com
►Louis Bofferding
New York, 212.744.6725
►San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
415.357.4000
www.sfmoma.org
►Sotheby’s, New York
James Zemaitis, director of 20th-century decorative arts and design department.
212.607.7000
www.sothebys.com
►wright
Chicago, 312.563.0020
www.wright20.com
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