Ralph Rapson

Ralph Rapson

USA, 1914

Ralph Rapson was part of an exhilarating era in American Modernist architecture and design. He began his formal architectural training in the early 1930s at the University of Michigan and then attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art, led by Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen.

At age thirty-one he participated in Arts and Architecture magazine’s Case Study program for postwar housing. Rapson’s “Greenbelt House” entry drew wide and favorable critical attention. With his renowned drawing skills he produced hundreds of furniture designs including his own successful line for K G. Knoll Associates in the 1940s.

Ralph Rapson's accomplishments in architecture and design span 70 years and connect the defining events and personalities of American Modernism. His furniture is in the collections of major modern art and design museums. His buildings are coveted for their masterful use of space, light, and line.