Chrome Cityscape Chairs, Paul Evans, Directional, 1970's, Set of 4

Details

Description

Set of 4 Paul Evans for Directional Cityscape PE-241 Chrome Armchairs in Black Ultrasuede, 1970s

Four chairs. Zero chill.

This … Read more Set of 4 Paul Evans for Directional Cityscape PE-241 Chrome Armchairs in Black Ultrasuede, 1970s

Four chairs. Zero chill.

This is a stunning and genuinely rare matched set of four Paul Evans Cityscape PE-241 armchairs for Directional, and finding four together is the design equivalent of spotting all four Beatles in the same crosswalk. Each chair wears Evans’ signature chrome patchwork like armor: faceted, geometric panels of polished chrome that catch the light from every angle, so the whole set flickers like a skyline at night. Hence the name.

They’re upholstered in a supple black matte Ultrasuede, which was the fabric of the moment in the 1970s, after Halston turned it into the most coveted shirtdress in America. Tese chairs are basically dressed in period-correct couture. The matte black against all that mirror-bright chrome is pure contrast: velvet rope meets disco ball~

Masculine but elegant, hard-edged but somehow sexy, the Cityscape chairs are the rare design that can swing in any direction. They’re right at home in Hollywood Regency rooms next to Dorothy Draper and Tommi Parzinger, they’ll party with Willy Rizzo, Pierre Cardin and Maria Pergay in a glam ’70s space, and they’ll look razor sharp in a clean contemporary or modern interior. Picture them in Tony Montana’s dining room, but with better judgment.

And while they’re officially dining chairs, nobody’s going to stop you from using them as accent chairs. Scatter a pair in a living room, flank a fireplace, or park two at a desk and dare someone not to comment. They’re functional works of art first, seating second, and conversation starters always.

We currently have them on display in our showroom styled with a Karl Springer dining table and a Milo Baughman credenza, which, honestly, is the 1970s Avengers. If you’re building a room around Karl Springer, Milo Baughman, Vladimir Kagan, Charles Hollis Jones, Gabriella Crespi or Phillip Lloyd Powell, these are the chairs you’ve been waiting for. And if you’ve been hunting a full set of Paul Evans Cityscape dining chairs, you already know how rarely four armchairs surface at once. Blink and they’re in someone else’s dining room.

About Paul Evans
Paul Evans (1931–1987) was one of the most daring and original American furniture designers of the 20th century, a craftsman who treated furniture like sculpture and metal like paint. Born in Newtown, Pennsylvania, Evans trained as a metalsmith, studying at the School for American Craftsmen in Rochester, New York, and at Cranbrook Academy of Art, and worked for a time as a silversmith at Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. In the 1950s he settled in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where he set up his studio and worked alongside fellow designer Phillip Lloyd Powell, the two sharing a showroom and a fearless approach to craft.

Evans’ work exploded onto the national stage through his long collaboration with Directional Furniture beginning in the mid-1960s, which brought his welded, torched, patinated and sculpted designs into high-end showrooms across the country. Over the following decades he introduced a parade of now-iconic lines, including Sculpted Steel, Sculpted Bronze, Argente, Patchwork and, in the 1970s, Cityscape, whose faceted chrome and burl surfaces captured the gleam and glamour of the urban skyline. Rejecting the restraint of much midcentury design, Evans embraced drama, texture and theatricality, blurring the line between studio craft and industrial production.

Evans closed his studio in 1987, shortly before his death that same year. Today his work is held in major museum collections and commands top prices at auction, and the Cityscape line remains one of his most recognizable and collectible achievements.

Details

Designer: Paul Evans
Manufacturer: Directional Furniture
Model: Cityscape PE-241 armchair
Quantity: Set of 4
Era: 1970s
Materials: Chrome-clad frames, black matte Ultrasuede upholstery See less