A history of how Danish design rose to prominence in the postwar United States, becoming shorthand for stylish modern comfort. Today, Danish Modern design is synonymous with clean, midcentury cool. During the 1950s and ‘60s, it flourished as the furniture choice for Americans who hoped to signal they were current and chic. But how did this happen? How did Danish Modern become the design movement of the times? In The Chieftain and the Chair, Maggie Taft tells the tale of our love affair with Danish Modern design. Structured as a biography of two iconic chairs—Finn Juhl’s Chieftain Chair and Hans Wegner’s Round Chair, both designed and first fabricated in 1949—this book follows the chairs from conception and fabrication through marketing, distribution, and use. Drawing on research in public and private archives, Taft considers how political, economic, and cultural forces in interwar Denmark laid the foundations for the postwar furniture industry, and she tracks the deliberate maneuvering on the part of Danish creatives and manufacturers to cater to an American market. Taft also reveals how American tastemakers and industrialists were eager to harness Danish design to serve American interests and how furniture manufacturers around the world were quick to capitalize on the fad by flooding the market with copies. Sleek and minimalist, Danish Modern has experienced a resurgence of popularity in the last few decades and remains a sought-after design. This accessible and engaging history offers a unique look at its enduring rise among tastemakers.

Presents 110 Danish chairs and charts their success at home and abroad from the mid-20th century until the present day In the mid-20th century design became a cultural phenomenon that placed Denmark on the world map. Danish Design emerged in 1949 as a real brand, when American journalists started to write about Danish furniture in relation to a furniture exhibition by Snedkerlauget in Copenhagen. 'Den runde stol' made by Hans. J. Wegner was given the name 'The Chair'. This was not only the beginning of a great export adventure but also a challenge for the Danish designers, who became world recognized for their obsession with creating the perfect chair. The chair has always been the touchstone of designers and the design historians' favourite object. It touches and reflects the body it carries with arms, legs, seat and back. Besides this point, the chair is one of our most culture-bearing design objects and it tells a story about the period and the society from which it was created. In a very unique way this book shows, not just in words but also with drawings and photos how Danish chairs are built on historical furniture types, which are then refined into the infinite. The message and the explanation for the international success of Danish furniture is this; Danish furniture design is based on foreign culture and the best creations of former times.

"Finn Juhl was part of the ... movement known as Danish Modern, which lasted from around 1930 until the end of the 1960s ... One of the first to achieve international success, [he] paved the way for Danish Modern to become an international 'brand' for Danish furniture design. This book shines a spotlight not only on Finn Juhl's house but also on Juhl as a modernist and man of the world ... It focuses on the period from [his] first experimental furniture in the 1930s through the golden age in the 1940s and 1950s to today, when the furniture has experienced a renaissance as design classics and collector's items"--Publisher's description.

For serious furniture collectors, Danish is more than a pastry-it's an art form. Twentieth century Danish furniture design is simple and clean., mixes well with other design styles, and has an inherent value and history beyond its beauty. In Modern Danish, Andrew Hollingsworth explores the history of Danish design, from the earliest cabinetmakers' guilds in the 1770s through the impact of two world wars, and its evolution into the twentieth century. The book includes photographic surveys of Danish Modern furniture in homes across the Unites States; a market guide with tips, facts and resources that includes discussions of veneer vs. solid wood, places to find Danish Modern furniture, and a guide to caring for it; and an extensive resource section.

For decades now, the story of art in America has been dominated by New York. It gets the majority of attention, the stories of its schools and movements and masterpieces the stuff of pop culture legend. Chicago, on the other hand . . . well, people here just get on with the work of making art. Now that art is getting its due. Art in Chicago is a magisterial account of the long history of Chicago art, from the rupture of the Great Fire in 1871 to the present, Manierre Dawson, László Moholy-Nagy, and Ivan Albright to Chris Ware, Anne Wilson, and Theaster Gates. The first single-volume history of art and artists in Chicago, the book—in recognition of the complexity of the story it tells—doesn’t follow a single continuous trajectory. Rather, it presents an overlapping sequence of interrelated narratives that together tell a full and nuanced, yet wholly accessible history of visual art in the city. From the temptingly blank canvas left by the Fire, we loop back to the 1830s and on up through the 1860s, tracing the beginnings of the city’s institutional and professional art world and community. From there, we travel in chronological order through the decades to the present. Familiar developments—such as the founding of the Art Institute, the Armory Show, and the arrival of the Bauhaus—are given a fresh look, while less well-known aspects of the story, like the contributions of African American artists dating back to the 1860s or the long history of activist art, finally get suitable recognition. The six chapters, each written by an expert in the period, brilliantly mix narrative and image, weaving in oral histories from artists and critics reflecting on their work in the city, and setting new movements and key works in historical context. The final chapter, comprised of interviews and conversations with contemporary artists, brings the story up to the present, offering a look at the vibrant art being created in the city now and addressing ongoing debates about what it means to identify as—or resist identifying as—a Chicago artist today. The result is an unprecedentedly inclusive and rich tapestry, one that reveals Chicago art in all its variety and vigor—and one that will surprise and enlighten even the most dedicated fan of the city’s artistic heritage. Part of the Terra Foundation for American Art’s year-long Art Design Chicago initiative, which will bring major arts events to venues throughout Chicago in 2018, Art in Chicago is a landmark publication, a book that will be the standard account of Chicago art for decades to come. No art fan—regardless of their city—will want to miss it.

The first-ever comprehensive monograph on one of Denmark's most influential Modernist design pioneers Danish architect, interior-, and industrial designer Finn Juhl is best known for his furniture. Credited in the creation of the international 'Danish design' phenomenon of the 1940s and 1950s, his interior for the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the United Nations Headquarters in New York introduced Danish Modern to America. A resurgence of interest in Finn Juhl's work, the advent of the retro trend, and Juhl's elevation to cult status in Japan places him firmly at the forefront of mid-century Danish design.

Pull up a chair (or 100) for this midcentury design showcase. Here is a stylish guide to the top 100 most interesting, most controversial, or simply most beautiful chairs designed between 1930 and 1970. Get to know the designers of the Modern era, including the Eames, Jacobsen, Nakashima, Noguchi, Wegner, and many more, through their creative and unique chair designs. With notes on materials, manufacturers, and construction, entertaining quotes by designers and fans about each chair, a brief biography of each designer, the stories behind the designs, and even a ‘chair timeline’ showcasing the very best of European, Scandinavian, Japanese, and American design, 100 Midcentury Chairs And Their Stories is a must for Midcentury enthusiasts and design history fans everywhere.