Lester Margon, 1892-1980
Born January 26, 1892, in New York,
NY; died December, 1980; son of the manufacturer, Moses Margon and
Flora Somerfeld. A designer of interiors and furniture, Margon studied
at Cooper Union, Columbia University, Mechanics Institute of New York,
and New York. In the mid-1930s, Margon began a long association with Home
Craftsman, including collaborating with the
HC editor, Harry Hobbs, in publishing in book
form, in 1949, Construction of American Furniture
Treasures. A corrected edition, paperback, was
issued by Dover Press in 1975.In addition, Margon issued his museum
drawings of furniture in four other books:
World
Furniture Treasures, Reinhold, 1954;
Masterpieces
of American Furniture, Architectural Book
Publishing, 1965;
Masterpieces of European
Furniture, Architectural Book Publishing, 1968; and
More American Furniture
Treasures, 1620-1840: An Anthology, Architectural
Book Publishing, 1971.
The info above is adapted from
Contemporary Authors. However, this account is far
too sketchy for such an important contributor to the annals of amateur
woodworking. I will make it a special effort to supplement it. (Check
out what Wallace Kunkel says about Margon's role in launching Kunkel's
'second" career as a woodworker -- yet to be completed 4-2-07.)
In the Winter 1976, issue, Fine
Woodworking (fragment on left) has an article by
Margon, basically a "how to" for anyone interested in drawing
measured museum pieces, but also full of autobiography.
Details include training at Cooper Union Art School in new York City --
not dates given but I assume early 1920s -- followed by brief work with
Stickley Brothers in Grand Rapids. A result of this sojourn, Margon was
selected to make a trip to France, where he traveled widely making
measured drawings. His experience, though, was not entirely enjoyable.
Circled
in yellow, Margon's details about his measured drawings, -- now the
only record of some European furniture casulaties of the WW II bombing --
have a definite poignancy.
