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UltraModern: Samuel Marx Architect, Designer, Art Collector

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In choosing to name this book, "Ultramodern...", the author has painted herself into an intellectually untenable corner; the evidence presented in the book would scarcely lead the reader to the conclusion that Chicago architect/furniture designer Samuel Marx was even modern, let alone "ultramodern". And it is not as if Ms. O'Brien was not given ample opportunity to prove the title's assertion.

Given the enviable privilege of unfettered access to a trove of material (including photographs detailing Marx's commissions) owned by the Chicago Historical Society, the Art Institute of Chicago, and numerous other cultural repositories , Ms. O' Brien was able to "cherrypick" the most suitable examples of Marx's furniture to make her point; she presumably chose to exclude information and photographs which would be less compelling in illustrating the putative importance of Marx as a modernist architect and furniture designer. Despite this obvious selection bias, the vast majority of the items chosen to be illustrated by O'Brien (perhaps 80%) were merely comfortable reinterpretations of known traditional styles commonly found in haute bourgeois households of that period. Perhaps more distressing is the fact that a good deal of the furniture "designed" by Marx that would putatively be labeled "modernist" in today's world is shown to have been "adapted" (O' Brien's term) from works that had been previously designed by luminaries such as Jean Michel Frank, T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings, Donald Deskey, Paul Frankl, Isamu Noguchi and others.

In actuality, Marx's adaptations frequently make the pieces less modernist, not more. In some instances his adaptations fail altogether. For example, Marx "adapted" a sleek off white Jean Michel Frank parchment covered waterfall low table by gluing a thick black (Chinese) Coromandel panel to the (replicated) table top thus ruining its sleekness and monochromatic subtlety. The result is analogous to adding a large set of gilded bull's horns to the grill of an exquisitely sculpted classic Rolls Royce.

One of the tenets of modernism, "Form follows function", was obviously not an urgent priority for Marx . Living in Chicago for more than 30 years, I've had the opportunity to handle/inspect many known pieces of Marx furniture that have shown up at local auction houses (more than 100 pieces at Wright, Leslie Hindman, Sotheby's (Chicago), Susanin's, Hansel's , Toomey Treadway, Dunning's, Bunte, Milne Klein etc.) and hundreds more that were most likely done by Marx but were unmarked (much of his furniture was unmarked, a fact that is not even mentioned in the book). What is discernible after inspecting even the "best" pieces (and living with some of the others) is that Marx's pieces were not very well thought out. For example, if one does a search for Marx's furniture, a silverleaf bombe chest being sold (for about $70,000) comes up. This dresser, which sold at Wright Auction about two and a half years ago for about $25,000, has massive drawers which are extremely cumbersome. Moreover, Marx made matters worse by unwisely choosing to put only one centrally placed pull on each drawer (and not a very functional pull at that). Resultantly, even when the drawers are empty, they are very unwieldy; fully loaded, they are nearly impossible. More recently (December 2007), Wright Auction (the purveyor of the most desirable Marx furniture at auction and certainly the most fecund source for "signed" pieces) sold a simple burled oak veneer desk designed by Marx for one of the partners in his architectural firm (Charles Schonne) for about $16,000. The desk drawers had no pulls on them whatsoever; only the top drawer had an indentation for fingertips to facilitate its opening. In order to open each of the remaining drawers, one would need to grasp with one's fingertips both of the (lateral) free edges of the drawer and tenuously negotiate its opening. The desk is fairly attractive but not very well designed. These are not isolated examples; they are fairly typical. Moreover, Marx chose to make most of his furniture with veneers and time has not been very kind to most of them.

To what did Marx owe his success? Quite simply, a large part of his success came from social connections garnered as a result of his marrying stunningly well (at least twice). Marx, whose father was a prosperous dry goods merchant in Mississippi, seemingly hit the marital jackpot in 1916 when he married Margaret Schaffner, the daughter of the head of Hart, Schaffner, and Marx (no relation). Through social connections facilitated by his marriages, Marx received many commissions from members of his elite social set which included a bevy of extremely wealthy Jewish corporate movers and shakers, mainly in Chicago but also in New York and Los Angeles In 1937, after a brief second marriage to a sculptress (who went on to be the long term paramour of Mies),the 52 year old Marx married Florene May Straus, the daughter of the founder of the May Company, a thriving department store chain. (To put this in perspective, May Company was purchased by Federated Department Stores in 2005 for $11 billion.) This marriage opened even more doors for Marx, including a series of commissions amongst the Hollywood elite. It was only after his marriage to Florene that Marx started collecting major art works by big name artists eg. Modigliani, Picasso, Matisse, etc. In the book, Ms. O' Brien makes a good deal about the "moderness" of the Marx art collection but again this is somewhat misleading. To collect Picasso, Matisse, and Modigliani in the 1940's and '50's was not at all cutting edge; Picasso and Matisse had already been superstars in the artworld for nearly 30 years before Marx bought his first major work.

This is a good book to borrow from your local library or through interlibrary loan.

what can be said about mr marx....modern with a memory for the past; and that collection is beyond belief. Dont think collections like that exist today. Have viewed this book a hundred times since my purchase.My friends are lining up to borrow

Samuel Abraham Marx was an architect, furniture designer, connoisseur, and collector who worked during the early decades of the 20th century. Profusely illustrated with more than 200 images, "Ultramodern Samuel Marx: Architect, Designer, Art Collector" by Liz O'Brien (a decorative arts dealer specializing in modern design) is the first monograph of a once relatively obscure by nowadays increasingly influential American designer. "Ultramodern Samuel Marx" is the product of ten years of research and includes many of his undiscovered projects, including houses that he designed but which have been razed (despite preservationist protest) as well as his unique furniture designs. Properly providing context to his place in the history of twentieth century architecture and design, "Ultramodern Samuel Marx" is an informed and informative showcase of a remarkable talent whose hallmark was to so skillfully combine architecture and furniture designs so that they complemented and supported each other both esthetically and functionally. A superb and insightful introduction, "Ultramodern Samuel Marx" is a very strongly recommended addition to personal, professional, academic, and community library American Architecture reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

This book gives a very good insight to the man as well as to his work. The photography was excellent. I was able to understand alot about the great designers and architecs of the mid portion of the previous century.

This book highlights the importance and beauty of the "real modern" movement and one of its most celebrated arctitects of the movement. The homes and furnishings that exsit to date that we are able to study and review are just wonderful. It is an important book for anyone interested in the modern movement and its historical development in the United States. It is written extrememly well and informs without lecturing the reader. A perfect book for our current era of "editing our lives."