A while back we featured a Paris loft by modernist dealer-designer Florence Gomez with a prized set of coffee tables by midcentury American designer Luther Conover.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able turn up much on my potential in-law, but while I was deep in that rabbit hole, I kept discovering work by other great all-but-forgotten California designers of the fifties and sixties.
A member of what came to be known as the Pacific Design Group, Luther Conover worked out of Sausalito—and is said to have initially enlisted high-schoolers as his assistants.
Luther Conover
Photograph from a former sale by Berkeley dealer Just in Modern.
The rakish mahogany and iron Luther Conover Lounge Chair is periodically available from retailers such as 1stdibs and Artnet. custom 9 ft bench for Sausalito church Just in Modern Remodelistajpg.jpg 140
Fireplace tools attributed to Conover are plentiful on eBay. Another Conover-designed set is currently on offer for $750 on Katz Modern.
Wright, a Chicago auction house specializing in modern design, sold this set of Nesting Tables for $3,000 (three times the estimate) in 2012. It’s currently on offer on 1stdibs for $1,800.
Muriel Coleman, who got an MFA from Columbia University in 1936 and studied in Paris with Andre Lhote, was part of the Pacific Design Group with Conover. During World War II, she deciphered photos of the French coast for the precursor to the CIA.
Muriel Coleman
A Muriel Coleman Iron and Wood Wall Shelf, which can be used as a room divider, was previously available from Just in Modern via 1st Dibs. (F & F Vintage of Merced, California, makes replicas of Muriel Coleman shelving that are available via Etsy.)
Dorothy Shindele
Dorothy Shindele was introduced to us by Loughrey (who in addition to running LAMA is a longtime appraiser for Antiques Roadshow).
Sold for $385 for a set of six on Chairish, these Dorothy Shindele dining chairs came out of the seller’s LA childhood home.
Cleo Baldon
The LA architect credited with creating the lap pool in the early seventies, Cleo Baldon designed indoor-outdoor furniture that captured the southern California good life.
This Cleo Baldon Iron and Oak Occasional Table from the late fifties—25 inches tall and 30 inches in diameter—sold via Red Modern Furniture of Phoenix.
One of Baldon’s signatures was pairing modernist forms with Spanish Colonial detailing.
John Keal was a member of the gang of talented designers (Paul Frankl, Paul Lazlo, and Gilbert Rhode included) who worked for LA furniture manufacturer Brown-Saltman in the fifties.
John Keal
A mahogany John Keal Slat Bench for Brown-Saltman is currently $3,600 on 1stdibs.
This John Keal Expanding Coffee Table is made of walnut and black laminate. (Note: A search for the piece turns up several vendors selling this design; prices vary considerably, and condition of the piece and location of the dealer are things to take into consideration.)
Maurice Martiné
Maurice Martiné, another Loughrey favorite, was based in Laguna Beach and designed lounges in the late forties that have similar lines to Paul McCobb’s more famous Shovel chair.
Martiné offered his lounge chair with wood dowels or rope cords on the seat and back. Please fill us in in the comments section.