Rago Auctions

DAVID ROBERTSON SMITH; JOHNSON FURNITURE CO. Tall Dynamique Creations cabinet, Grand Rapids, MI, ca. 1929; Bleached mahogany, enameled wood, nickeled brass; Manufacturer labels; 63" x 46" x 15"; Marketed by Johnson Furniture Co. as the first American modern furniture line, “Dynamique Creations” was certainly the first mass-produced Grand Rapids furniture in the modernist style, and it blatantly copied Paul Frankl’s custom Skyscraper Furniture pieces retailed in Frankl Galleries, New York. Frankl apparently did not mind, as he ended up designing his own line of cork and mahogany furniture for Johnson a decade later. David Robertson Smith was previously a designer for Stickley Brothers.