Born in Istanbul, Turkey, as Demetrios Pecintoglu, the designer known as James Mont (1904-1978) has been called the "Godfather of Exotic Modernism." From the 1930s through the 1960s, he was one of the most prominent decorators on the East Coast. His friends and clients included the likes of Bob Hope, Lana Turner and Irving Berlin, as well as crime bosses such as Frank Costello and Lucky Luciano.
The flamboyant, mustachioed Mont had a penchant for cocktail lounges, flashy cars and chorus girls, and he also had such a violent temper that it led to a five-year incarceration at Sing Sing prison for brutally assaulting a woman who rejected his sexual advances.
He immigrated with his family to the United States in the early 1920s and got his start as a decorator in the mid-1920s. He was running a small electrical supply shop in Brooklyn, where he also sold lamps of his own design. A member of a local crime family stopped by his shop and was so impressed with the lamps that he asked Mont to decorate his home. He soon became the decorator of choice to mobsters. His Prohibition Era designs included collapsible bars, as well as desks and tables with hidden compartments that were perfect for stashing guns and cash.
Bankrolled by the mob, Mont opened a store on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue in 1932. However, that was only the first of many locations, including three other Manhattan locations, Long Island, Miami Beach and Athens, because the gambler and womanizer Mont was always one step ahead of creditors, tax collectors and sometimes the law.
According to vintage dealer Todd Merrill, who has studied Mont, his style appealed to people who had no interest in machine age or severe modernism. His designs were often Asian-inspired and always showy and opulent. His furniture has been described as "muscularly scaled" with lavish hardware and time-intensive finishes which often incorporated gold and silver leaf or 14 coats of lacquer, each sanded and polished by hand. Before applying metal leafing, he would paint the piece jade green or imperial yellow and then have workmen rub the leaf almost to transparency in some areas so a hint of the color could be seen.
In 1952 Mont's inventory and personal collection of Asian art was auctioned off to satisfy his creditors. However, he rebounded and continued to receive large commissions into the early 1960s. Changing tastes and his own personal problems eventually drove him into obscurity.
From themagazineantique.com and nytimes.com
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X base coffee table
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Black lacquer cabinet
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Dining chairs
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Silver leaf dining table
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Table lamps
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Sofa with wrap-around console
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Metallic leather chairs
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Oak and leather chest
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Dolphin chairs
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