News/Events

by Wava Carpenter | Read full Article HERE

4 historical design specialists spotlight their favorite 20th-century design masters.

Today, we’re comparing notes with four experts in historical design to find out which 20th-century talents they idolize most and why. Our panel includes Robert Aibel of Moderne Gallery in Philadelphia, specialized in the American Studio Craft[...]

By Commonwealth Proper | Read full article HERE

“At Commonwealth Proper,  we love to discover local places/brands that represent some of the same things we do, dedication to a craft, bringing Made in America back, or highlighting people that are changing the landscape in their own industries. This is our Local Intel series that tell the[...]

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… Moderne Gallery takes up a floor of the space at 2220 with some expensive pieces of art that also happen to be furniture. They specialize in the clean, modern work of George Nakashima: sleek wood chairs, benches, and tables made from walnut and hickory with live edges, all[...]

Ryo Toyonaga treats ceramics as a sculptural art form, or more specifically, uses clay as a medium through which to explore and express personal aesthetic goals. Moving from Japan to the U.S in 1986, he has worked in clay but has produced drawings as well as sculptures in wax, papier-mache, bronze and aluminum casting.[...]

George Nakashima remains one of the most famous and also enduring 20th-century modern design icons. He is synonymous with simple, natural beauty and most of all, a kind of stoic if elegant functionality. The market for Nakashima has fluctuated in price over the past decades at auction, reaching an apogee during 2006–2008 when a magnificent[...]

Moderne Gallery has been highlighted in Architect Magazine’s feature article on Design Miami 2021: The Best of the Best/

As always, Design Miami will host galleries representing work that tops today’s collectible design market, both vintage and contemporary. Masterpieces from icons of the 20th century include works by Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand, George Nakashima, Harry Bertoia,[...]

Rediscovering Paul Hultberg (1926-2019): Abstract Expressionism in Enamel at Moderne Gallery.

Currently at Moderne Gallery in Philadelphia: Rediscovering Paul Hultberg (1926-2019): Abstract Expressionism in Enamel. According to the gallery, the exhibition  tells the underappreciated story, “not only of Hultberg’s career in enamel but also his incredible legacy as a seminal figure in the abstract expressionist[...]

This month at Philadelphia’s Moderne Gallery, a pioneer of the American Studio Craft movement gets a long overdue retrospective. Paul Hultberg was a California-born artist, taught by Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still, a contemporary of Rauschenberg and and friends with Richard[...]

George Nakashima’s New lounge chair is an iconic example of American-Japanese design. Through the use of a free-form arm, which accentuates the wood’s natural characteristics, he reveals nature’s beauty. The form of the chairs and the hand-carved spindles are a reference to a traditional American design, the Windsor chair. —Robert[...]

PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Philadelphia’s Moderne Gallery has opened an exhibition that celebrates the legacy of Paul Hultberg, the first large-scale exhibition of work by this multi-disciplinary artist since his death in 2019. While he may be a lesser-known figure of The Studio Craft movement, in recent years[...]

“PICK UP A sheet of copper and you’ll reflect the environment; you’ll get ideas for shapes,” says the artist-enamellist Paul Hultberg (1926-2019) in a short film about his practice made in 1966. Flex the metal, and those images “distort and change, picking up what’s around you.”

Paul Hultberg, ‘Hieroglyph’, 1958 COURTESY: Moderne Gallery / PHOTOGRAPH:[...]

The Studio Craft movement is no stranger to the art enthusiast; a huge craft initiative originating from the US in the few years after World War II. The movement has seen artists experiment with traditional[...]

Just released: two-hour documentary DVD with 30 minutes of extras by John Nakashima, George’s nephew. $30 incl. domestic shipping.

Wharton Esherick, Hessian Hills Child’s Chair, 1931. Red oak and leather. In 1924, Wharton Esherick created a prototype for a child’s chair, now in the permanent collection of the Wharton Esherick Museum, of which he would make six the following year. These chairs were made in lieu of tuition payment for his then[...]

The new documentary George Nakashima: Woodworker explores the indelible legacy of the iconic Japanese-American furniture maker

The designer George Nakashima was fond of saying that he kept some pieces of wood in his studio for long periods of time, and “it would only be after 10 years that it would occur to him what to do[...]

Robert Aibel opened Moderne Gallery in 1984, and for decades he was accustomed to acting unilaterally, being the boss.

The gallery’s origin story goes like this: An academic, Aibel was a full-time art and film professor at Drexel when a work trip took him to France. Coincidentally, he and his wife had recently bought[...]