Art: Grand Rapids Modern

The January Midwestern furniture displays had the new look. In mahogany-bound Grand Rapids, Mich., strongest citadel of period-piecing in the U.S., last week's displays by old-line manufacturers showed that over half of them had added handsome, well-designed modern to their quality period products. It was the same kind of story at Chicago's winter furniture exhibitions, showcases of a large part of the rest of the U.S. furniture industry.

The 74-year-old Widdicomb Furniture Co. had been the first big Grand Rapids producer to go completely contemporary. In 1942 it hired star Manhattan Designer Terence...