Peter Wyeth

James Leonard and Project X: Triumph and Tragedy of an Industrial Artist Peter Wyeth

A rare 1947 catalogue of modern furniture making use of a revolutionary cast aluminum process reveals the splendid art of a designer who worked anonymously in the same factory for 50 years — the world class nature of his work revealed in this book and accompanying exhibition for the first time. A rich, complex story of conflict between design and industry, John Leonard's Project X successfully launched a flood of striking chairs and desks into British and American schools, but his most beautiful design, the X202 "Armchair" remains unknown. By contrast, the paired "Student Chair," the X200, sold over a million copies, the most successful chair in British history.

The central mystery of the chairs’ contrasting fates involves his boss's dismissal as 'unfit' at the peak of success, the revolutionary WWII Mosquito fighter/bomber, obsession with a winning racecar, mysterious double lives, a financial scandal, and the eternal battle between art and business. As Wyeth details Leonard's double life and the unprecedented achievement of Project X, he reveals James Leonard to be a singularly talented designer.