A pair of vintage Tommi Parzinger table lamps with bronze and marble bases, white glass bodies and gilt designs. Each is decorated with mythical female warrior figures riding a bull and a lion. Born in Munich in 1903, he later moved to New York City in 1932, starting his first company in 1939. He began by designing for Manhattan style-setter Rena Rosenthal. His works were collected by famous clients, including Billy Baldwin, Marilyn Monroe, and a number of high-fashion New York families. Parzinger’s last showroom, on East 57th Street, was closed not long after his death in 1981. His focus turned to Expressionist painting during the final 15 years of his life, no longer working on designing furniture. Parzinger’s works were titled “high-style modernism”, which represented a “more idiosyncratic, rarefied midcentury design”. Most of the pieces he created were custom-built for large studios, with Parzinger using “cosmopolitan-looking designs, involving costly, craft-intensive materials and processes like brass work and lacquer”. Tommi Parzinger’s works of art and design are displayed at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum amongst other Venues. Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps are characterized as organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple. These are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that ” good design was an essential part of good living”.
