Occasional Table

Walter Von NessenWW-1930-113952

1930·Aluminum, Bakelite, and iron·46 × 46.4 × 30.5 cm (18 1/8 × 18 1/4 × 12 in.)

<p>Walter von Nessen was among the group of architects and designers born and trained in Europe, including Paul Frankl and Wolfgang Hoffmann, who altered the shape of American interior design during the first decades of the 20th century. For his occasional table—whose diminutive stature and portability were inspired by the informal buffet dinners and cocktail parties that gained in popularity during the Prohibition era—Von Nessen shrewdly married modernity with tradition. The aluminum and Bakelite—which were just being accepted as suitable for interior decoration—suggest the latest in machine technology, but they also evoke luxurious materials such as silver and ebonized wood. At the same time, the graceful sweep of aluminum that curves upward toward the tabletop evokes neoclassical visual details.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1930
Medium: Aluminum, Bakelite, and iron
Dimensions: 46 × 46.4 × 30.5 cm (18 1/8 × 18 1/4 × 12 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Walter Von Nessen

Artist

Walter Von Nessen

Walter von Nessen was an American designer and metalworker known for modernist lighting and decorative objects in brass, chrome, and steel. Active in the 1920s and 1930s, he developed a signature approach to functional form that merged Bauhaus principles with American industrial production. His table lamps and sculptural vessels combined geometric severity with handcrafted refinement, establishing a model for designer-craftsman practice in the interwar period. Von Nessen's work bridged European modernism and American manufacture during a formative moment in twentieth-century design.

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