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WARD BENNETTWARD BENNETTWARD BENNETTWARD BENNETTWARD BENNETTWARD BENNETT

contents

Preface

Foreword – John PawsonEssay – Pilar Viladas

Architecture and InteriorsFurniture and TextilesObjects

Interview with Ward BennettTimelineIndex

Bibliography

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THE DAKOTA

In 1962, Bennett bought a series of maids’ rooms at the top of the Dakota, one of New York’s first luxury apartment buildings when it opened in 1881. Bennett gutted the space in one of the building’s gables and connected the rooms, which were grouped around an airshaft, before plastering them and paint-ing them white. As he once said, “I stripped away everything I could which would still leave the place standing.” The apartment was entered through a galley kitchen that led to the spacious living-dining area, with its sloping walls and tall skylight. The liv-ing area connected to the bedroom and bathroom by a passage that Bennett turned into a gallery; because the angled walls made hanging art difficult, Bennett designed built-in ledges for the display of art and objects. A spiral staircase in the living area led to a second-floor office; the base of the building’s flagpole was located there, but Bennett turned a lia-bility into an asset by designing a circular worktable around it. Bennett’s use of floor-level, leather-cov-ered mattress sofas made the sloping walls feel less looming, while making the freestanding pieces of furniture look sculptural by comparison.

architecture and interiors

easton, pa house 81

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Ward Bennett LR

Legacy ID: 1986A38_014_PreUnique ID: OT1132928Photographer: Peter Aaron




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Ward Bennett LR





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hale allen housearchitecture and interiors 115

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lehigh 167

Ward Bennett is a painter, sculptor and furniture designer. While working as art director for Hattie Carnagie, his War Bond display was awarded first prize by the State Department. His design projects range from sculptures, lighting fixtures, small shops, residences, toys, theatrical sets to furniture and many others. His efforts have been exibited in the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum and other major museums and universities, both here and abroad. Probably his best know furniture designs are those he executed for The Lehigh Furniture Corporation. Mr. Bennett molds his original furniture designs in clay, pointing out that this is “a most natural and practical approach to the three-dimensional requirements.” A seld-made man, with practically no formal professional education, in a short time, Mr. Ward achieved recognition as a furniture designer of importance. – Furniture Forum, Fall 1959

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brickel 169

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textilesfurniture and textiles 179

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tiffany & co. 187

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Mr. Bennett’s table setting reflects his taste for classic simplicity and a lack of superfluous ornament. Here he uses his new flatware at a small dinner. He has designed the knives of the “WARD BENNETT” flat-ware so that the edges can be placed vertically on the table as well as in the usual horizontal position. Mr. Bennett uses heavy crystal plates and combines three different patterns of glasses at each place setting. A crystal vase doubles as a wine cooler. All the crystal has been cre-ated by Mr. Bennett for Tiffany & Co. The sterling silver ashtrays, salt and peppers, and coasters for the candles repeat the calm, clean lines of the crystal. There is nothing extraneous on the table: even the pears in the center piece will be eaten with the cheese for dessert.

— Tiffany & Co.

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springs housearchitecture and interiors 89

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Tape-recorded oral history with Ward BennettFebruary 13, 1973

pc It’s the thirteenth of February, 1973, Paul Cummings talking to Ward Bennett in his apartment in the Dakota, the highest one in the build-ing, right?

wb Yeah.pc You were born where and when?wb Well, I was born in New York on November 17, 1917, incidentally, which

might be helpful to you, there is I think by J’ean Stafford in “Art In America” a few years ago—

pc Right, I read that.wb You read it, okay. Well then she covers a lot of that. As long as you

know about that piece.pc So, your father was a vaudevillian? wb Right, right, yes.pc What was life like for you growing up in New York at that time?wb Well, actually he was in vaudeville when I was just growing up, so I

think I only remember once or twice actually seeing him perform, and then I was, you know, under eight or something like that. So when talkies came in he was out of work and he never made it, obviously, in the movies, although people he had worked with in vaudeville and on broadway, many of them did make it, such as Jessel and Cantor and Chaplin he roomed with for a year or two. So from there on in, he fol-lowed the tracks, and so we lived rather raggedly from Saratoga to Miami to wherever in Maryland.

pc So you moved around a lot.wb Yeah, we moved around a lot, and actually it was only for a short time,

because at thirteen I left home and that was the end of my home life, and also of my education.

pc Well, what kind of education did you have then, traveling around like that?

wb Well, in California when he was looking for work out there I went to a public school somewhere and then a junior high school. I think that was the last time I went to school, and then I left home. There were some family problems and it was either he got out or I got out.

pc At that youthful age?wb Yeah, yeah, it’s true. And then I lived up in a furnished room at 124th

Street off Broadway. I was a shipping clerk, I worked as a shipping clerk in the silk industry, you know, pushing carts through the streets.

pc Well, this was also, let’s see, in 1930, the beginning of the depression about.

wb Right, well yes, around 1930, I suppose. I really don’t remember dates. Then I had various jobs which I think is in that Jean Stafford piece. I got into fashion somewhere.

Interviewerpc Paul Cummings

Intervieweewb Ward Bennett

INTERVIEW

The first and only monograph to explore the life and work of designer Ward Bennett

New and archival photography illustrate Bennett's wide-ranging work in the fields of furniture, interiors, pottery, tableware, and sculpture

A period interview between Bennett and Paul Cummings brings to life the designer's voice

Features a sumptuous velvet cover inspired by Bennett's fabrics

A predecessor of luxury design based on simple form paired with elegant material accents, Bennett's furniture regularly goes up for auction

A momentous publication for fans of Bennett's work, curators, collectors, designers, students, and all those interested in twentieth century design

Book Specifications

Binding: Hardback Format: 270 × 205 mm (10 ⅝ × 8 ⅛ inches) Extent: 240 pp Number of images: 300 col. Word Count: 24,000 ISBN: 978 0 7148 7473 9 Phaidon Press Limited Regent’s Wharf All Saints Street London N1 9PA Phaidon Press Inc. 65 Bleecker Street New York, NY 10012 © 2017 Phaidon Press Limited phaidon.com

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Edited by Elizabeth Beer and B

rian Janusiak

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