George Kovacs (1926-2007) Austrian/American, Mid Century Modern Hanging Ceiling Light. Likely made in collaboration with Robert Sonneman (Born 1943) as part of their "Saturn" Collection from 1980. Round brass ceiling plate and light cover anchored by strong metal wires with a wider round glass lampshade around it, reminiscent of the rings of the planet Saturn. 

Size: 19 x 19 x 33 In. Height is adjustable. 

George Joseph Kovacs was born in Vienna, Austria on December 23rd, 1926, and after World War II he and his surviving family immigrated to the United States. In 1949 he graduated from college and took work at a lamp store in New York City, quickly becoming fascinated by both lighting and design which led him to enroll at the Pratt Institute Institute to study design. In 1954 he and his wife Barbara opened their own lamp store, and on their honeymoon in Austria he met and struck up a business relationship with the lamp manufacturer J. T. Kalmer. By 1956 he had opened a second location and was coming up with designs of his own that Kalmer would make for him, eventually drawing on lessons he had learned studying the Arts and Crafts movement that led him to shift away from retail and focused solely on manufacturing, creating and marketing the first American-made halogen torchiere lamp and revolutionizing the American lighting market. Kovacs began to travel the world, bringing the lighting designs of acclaimed artists like Isamu Noguchi and Ingo Maurer to the United States and the forefront of the Mid Century Modern movement, and his collaborations with renowned designers such as Hariri & Hariri, Robert Sonneman, Karim Rashid, Harry Allen, Rachel Simon, and Alecia Wesner made him an icon of the industry. He died on June 22nd, 2007 at his home in Manhattan from emphysema, leaving behind a design legacy that influenced several movements throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, and his works can be found in numerous museums including the Cranbrook Art Museum and the Smithsonian Institute. 

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