Architect Gene Summers (b. 1928) studied at Texas A&M and Illinois Institute of Technology under Mies van der Rohe, becoming Mies' project manager and right-hand man from 1950 until 1966 working on important commissions such as the Farnsworth House, the Seagram Building in NYC, and the National Gallery in Berlin. In his own practice he he designed the McCormick Place convention center in Chicago. Summers moved to France in 1985, returning to Chicago four years later to become dean of the College of Architecture at the IIT.
 
While in France Gene began to sculpt furniture and functional objects in bronze: tables, chairs, stools, candlesticks, andirons, bowls and vases. Using the lost wax method, Summers embraced the tactile quality of wax and the rich patinas that could be achieved with bronze. His strong architectural sensibility, attention to detail, and deft sense of scale and proportion are all hallmarks of these sculptural bronze pieces. 
 
This important design, the F4 side table is an excellent example of his artistic output. Measuring 17.25" in height, width and depth, the tapered base gives it the same strong sense of a heavy mass expertly balanced above its support that the masterful design of McCormick Place exhibits.