Beschreibung:

George Nakashima Exceptional free-form “Minguren I” coffee table 1964 Japanese burl, oak. 15 1/4 x 42 1/4 x 29 in. (38.7 x 107.3 x 73.7 cm). Together with a copy of the original order card from the George Nakashima Studio.
Provenance G. David Thompson Seal Harbor, Maine; Delorenzo 1950, New York; Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg, 20-21st Century Design Art, December 8, 2003, Lot 150; Geoffrey Diner Gallery, Washington D.C.; Sebastian + Barquet, New York Literature George Nakashima The Soul of a Tree, A Woodworker's Reflections, Tokyo, 1981, p. 173 for a similar example; Derek E. Ostergard, George Nakashima Full Circle, exh. cat., American Craft Museum, New York, 1989, p. 133 for a similar example; Mira Nakashima, Nature, Form & Spirit: The Life and Legacy of George Nakashima New York, 2003, p. 200 for a similar example; Todd Merrill and Julie V. Iovine, Modern Americana: Studio Furniture from High Craft to High Glam, New York, 2008, pp. 130-131 for a similar example Catalogue Essay The present table is listed on a customer order card, dated May 23, 1964, on file at the George Nakashima Studio in New Hope, Pennsylvania. The table was among a series of works commissioned at that time by Mr. Thompson. Although his address is listed as Pittsburgh, the card indicates the works were shipped to him in Seal Harbor, Maine. Phillips de Pury & Company would like to thank Mira Nakashima, Soomi Amagasu and the Nakashima Studio for their assistance cataloging this lot. Burls (burrs in Britain) protrude from trees like blisters, rough and irregular. Rounded outgrowths, burls result from injuries to trunk or infections below the bark. Wood fibers, traumatized, contort—the more intense the infection, the more explosive and erratic the burl. In World Woods in Color, William Lincoln writes: “Burrs have the appearance of tightly clustered dormant buds, with darker pith forming tiny knot formations like a mass of small eyes…” (Fresno, 1996, n.p.) Despite their abnormalities (or rather because of them), burl woods have been highly prized by cabinetmakers for centuries. Burls “…have a joy and exuberance that greatly enhances the tree’s charm,” wrote Japanese American woodworker George Nakashima (The Soul of a Tree, Tokyo, 1981, p. 94). Buckeye, walnut, oak—his rare burl table tops, reserved for special private commissions, are among Nakashima’s most elaborate and expressive designs and are a demonstration of his virtuosic abilities. The misshapen burl, like a knot, renders it difficult to cut and form with traditional woodworking tools. “Sawing this ‘treasure’ calls for the precision of a diamond cutter,” he wrote (Tokyo, 1981, p. 91). Nakashima’s devotion to timber spanned five decades, an extended meditation on man’s kinship with nature. Most of that time was spent at his studio in the woods outside New Hope, Pennsylvania—“Penn’s woods,” as he called it, in reference to the Duke of York’s land grant to William Penn in 1682. Acutely aware of the hidden history of trees, Nakashima believed them to be witnesses to, and participants in, the long march of time—an ongoing journey. Nakashima considered his own furniture to be a second life for the trees he felled. “When trees mature, it is fair and moral that they are cut for man’s use, as they would soon decay and return to earth. Trees have a yearning to live again…” (Tokyo, 1981, p. 93). Read More Artist Bio George Nakashima American • 1905 - 1990 Working out of his compound in rural New Hope, Pennsylvania, George Nakashima produced some of the most original and influential furniture designs of the post-war era. Nakashima aimed to give trees a second life, choosing solid wood over veneers and designing his furniture to highlight the inherent beauty of the wood, such as the form and grain. To this end, his tables often feature freeform edges, natural fissures and knot holes. Nakashima was an MIT-trained architect and traveled widely in his youth, gaining exposure to modernist design the world over. The signature style he developed was the distillation of extraordinary, diverse experiences, which led to the establishment of his furniture-making business in 1946. In particular, his practice of Integral Yoga, which he stud