Lot 252: Important prototype "Steel Furniture" table

Prototype for a subsequent edition of six and one artist's proof.

29 1/8 x 55 1/2 x 29 1/8 in. (74 x 141 x 74 cm)

Rusted hot-rolled steel.

ca. 1978

Scott Burton Chairs, exh. cat., Fort Worth Art Museum, 1983, pp. 15 and 44-45; Denise Domergue, Artists Design Furniture, New York, 1984, p. 57; Brenda Richardson, Scott Burton, exh. cat., The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1987, p. 8; Jill Svetska, Scott Burton: Skulpturen/Sculptures 1980-89, exh. cat., Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 1989, pp. 63 and 82-83

A gift from Scott Burton to the present owner

Scott Burton's "Steel Furniture" series explores the idea of a single piece of material as autonomous structure. This idea began in the furniture designs of the 1920s and 1930s with pieces such as Gerrit Rietveld's "Birza" chair. Burton contextualizes this idea and makes it applicable to modern times by using modern, industrial materials and processes. His "Steel Furniture" designs are the expression of pure form and structure, utilizing elegant and relaxed lines juxtaposed with hard steel material to make simple yet visually arresting forms.