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NEW YORK — A pioneering woman architect and designer whose contemporaries were mostly men, Greta Magnusson Grossman (1906-1999) applied traditional Swedish sensibilities to design. In doing so, she became well-known in Sweden and even more popular in California, where she settled in 1940. In her newfound home, she grew her reputation and legacy, and her work is now recognized as a bridge between European culture and California modernism.
Born Greta Magnusson in Sweden, she grew up in a family of cabinetmakers and followed in their steps, apprenticing with furniture-maker Karnans to learn woodworking. She was the only woman student in the workshop at the time, and is quoted as saying she needed “to be a step ahead or else.” That attitude served her well in life, and she broke many barriers in her four decades-long career. In the late 1920s, she studied furniture design in Stockholm and then went on to study architecture. Her talent and skills were soon recognized by her peers. In 1933, she won a furniture design award from the Swedish Society of Industrial Design, becoming the first woman to receive this award. She married a British musician, Billy Grossman, that same year. In 1940, during the throes of World War II, the couple decamped from Sweden to Los Angeles, opening a furniture and lighting studio on Rodeo Drive. The Magnusson-Grossman Studio catered to a celebrity clientele as well as selling to several important area furniture companies.
“One of Modernism’s unsung heroes, Greta Magnusson Grossman was one of the few female professionals to play an integral role in the Los Angeles Modern movement,” according to the Los Angeles Conservancy. As the city’s sole woman architect, owning her own practice during the 1940s-60s, she won many awards and attracted a loyal following. Her furniture and lighting designs are celebrated for their clever use of materials such as aluminum and Plexiglass as well as their functionality, clean lines and slim proportions.
Her stylish and often quirky floor lamps are highly desirable today, particularly those she created for Burbank, Calif. manufacturer Ralph O. Smith. A fairly traditional yet sophisticated example of her lighting designs is a brass and enameled aluminum floor lamp with two off-white shades, standing 51½ inches tall. One dating to circa 1948 achieved $24,000 plus the buyer’s premium in March 2018 at Wright.
Among her most famous pieces are her Grasshopper floor lamps, which debuted in 1947. Standing on a tripod base, these tall and slender lamps have an elongated and curved shade reportedly created to mimic the look of a grasshopper’s wings. The overall profile of the lamp is also reminiscent of an insect standing up, stalking its food source. A 1947 example in enameled steel and aluminum with brass, also for Ralph O. Smith, made $9,000 plus the buyer’s premium in March 2022 at Wright. The lamp, noted for its sense of play, stands slightly more than 49in tall.
Grossman’s furniture designs were inspired, combining functionality with comfort and aesthetics. A circa-1930 kidney-shaped beechwood and upholstery sofa sold for €8,000, or about $8,907, plus the buyer’s premium in October 2020 at Piasa. This piece of furniture shows how she was inspired by Swedish design aesthetics, as seen in the sofa’s curved shape, yet also informed by the Hollywood Regency movement, with its glamorous styling evincing luxury and comfort.
She also created several iconic pieces for Glenn of California in the 1950s, a firm based in Arcadia, Calif., that was one of the leading proponents of the California Modernist style. A highly imaginative entry designed for Glenn is her circa-1950s Flying Saucer coffee table in teak and black lacquered metal. A Flying Saucer table standing about 15in tall and dating to about 1952 made €8,000, or roughly $8,907, plus the buyer’s premium in October 2019 at Louiza Auktion & Associates.
Also designed by her for Glenn is the model 6210 bookshelf, which offers timeless styling and clean lines. A circa-1952 example that realized $4,000 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2023 at Hindman is in walnut and Formica over wood with enameled steel; it measures 38½in tall by 41¾in wide.
Magnusson Grossman fell into obscurity in the 1960s, but in recent decades her work has seen a resurgence of interest, and a few of her designs have been reissued. Mid-century Modern furniture and lighting has been widely popular in recent years,and demand shows no signs of abating. Magnusson Grossman’s work continues to be appreciated for her effortless blending of Scandinavian design principles with the carefree Southern California vibe.
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