Armchair
Kem Weber American, born Germany
Manufacturer Grand Rapids Chair Company
Not on view
Karl Emanuel Martin (Kem) Weber arrived in San Francisco in 1914 to supervise construction of a pavilion at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition celebrating his native Germany. Unable to return to Europe after the outbreak of World War I, Weber settled in California and brought to the west coast an aesthetic he had developed under the tutelage of the German architect Bruno Paul.
This armchair is part of a suite designed by Weber for the Grand Rapids Chair Company. (See MMA 1985.86.1 for an example of a sideboard that was part of the suite.) The armchair features a u-shaped seat and flat, rectangular wall back, both upholstered in reddish-brown leather. With the horizontal lines in the chartreuse painted wood frame, Weber created a sense of forward movement that would later characterize streamline moderne. The suite was shown at the Rike-Kumler department store in Dayton, Ohio in 1928.
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