Lot 422: PAUL LASZLO

PAUL LASZLO PAIR OF ARMCHAIRS lacquered wood and suede upholstery 27 1/2 in. (69.9 cm) high circa 1950s

Collection of Ray Gray, New York

Mark Isaacson developed several close friends who played big roles as inspirational guides and confidants to us in the early days of Fifty/50. The three I remember as most influential were Dimitri Levas, a book designer and collaborator of Robert Mapplethorpe's, who scoured the flea markets looking for props for Mapplethorpe's photographs while building his own collection of design; Joe Lombardo, a graphic designer who did packaging design for Gourmet vinegars, Wisk detergent, Good & Plenty candies, and who came up with the name Fifty/50 and the original logo; and Ray Gray, an interior designer who had moved to New York from Los Angeles. Ray had a huge loft on 19th Street near Park Avenue South where he held private exhibitions of design that he had discovered in California. He showed art by Karolay Fuloop, Italian ceramics by Gambone and Fantoni, contemporary ceramic vessels by Elsa Rady, and other esoteric work by mostly unknown artists. He had a brilliant sense of style and a controlled flamboyance and was so ahead of his time; sadly he died very early on in the AIDS plague. I purchased from him the present coffee table and pair of chairs designed by Paul Laszlo, the Hungarian-born, Hollywood-based interior designer. Like everything else Ray showed in his loft, these were likely the very first Laszlo pieces ever to be exhibited on the East Coast, predating by some 20 years the spectacular retrospective of Laszlo masterworks in Paul Donzella's Tribeca gallery. -MM