the art of seating Two Hundred Years of American Design Traveling

Transcription

Harry Bertoia (1915–1978), Bird Lounge Chair, c. 1952, Knoll Associates, New York, chrome wire frame with original green wool cover
the art of seating
All images courtesy of Michael Kortaya and Andrew VanStyn, Director of Acquisitions, Conservation and Photography, Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation
Traveling Exhibitions
Two Hundred Years of
American Design
the art of seating
American Design
Installation at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA, 2012
“After looking at this collection, it
will be difficult to deny that chairs
can be utilitarian art. The exhibition
provides us with an opportunity to
see readily recognizable pieces
mixed with some gems rarely
seen by the public.”
- Dr. Debra Murphy, professor, University of North
Florida, EU Jacksonville
T
he Art of Seating: Two Hundred Years of American
Design organized by The Museum of Contemporary
Art, Jacksonville, Florida, presents a survey of
exceptional American chair design from the early 19th
century to the present day. The chair is experienced not only
as a functional item, but as sculptural in view—the chair as
art. Each of the more than 40 chairs in the exhibition was
chosen for its beauty and historical context with important
social, economic, political and cultural influences. Selections
from the Jacobsen Collection of American Art are joined
by contemporary designs offering a stylistic journey in
furniture with showstoppers by John Henry Belter, George
Hunzinger, Herter Brothers, Stickley Brothers, Frank
Lloyd Wright, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen,
Isamu Noguchi, and Frank Gehry, among others.
International Arts & Artists • 9 Hillyer Court NW, Washington, DC 20008
Phone 202.338.0680 • Fax 202.333.0758 • www.artsandartists.org
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the art of seating
American Design
“The collection, spanning the 200
years between 1810 and 2010—
from the aesthetic movement to the
arts-and-crafts movement to the
more recent modern movement—
tells the story of who we are as
Americans, a young country
brimming with inventiveness, energy
and dreams of endless possibility.
The new patents and inventions that
were devised to create these chairs
are many, and the creative use of
materials and desire for something
new and different is evident as the
collection is viewed in its entirety.”
- Cabeth Cornelius, Jacksonville Luxury Living
Most chairs encountered throughout the day define
themselves fairly simply—a place at the family table, a
comfortable spot with a great view of the river, a seat of
corporate power. When looking at the chairs selected for
The Art of Seating, however, there is much more to see
than simple pieces of furniture. These works of art have
compelling stories to tell about our national history, the
evolution of American design, and incredible artistry and
craftsmanship.
Installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, FL, 2011
Perhaps the most illustrious piece of history in this collection
is that of the House of Representatives Chamber Arm Chair
from 1857. Designed by Thomas U. Walter, architect of the
capitol from 1851 to 1865, the House of Representatives
chairs were created to be used in the halls of congress and
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the art of seating
American Design
Frank Gehry (b. 1929), High Stool, 1971, Easy Edges, Inc., Los Angeles, CA, corrugated cardboard,
masonite and wood
Kenneth Smythe, Synergistic Synthesis XVII sub b1 Chair, 2003, Kenneth Smythe, Berkeley, CA, Finn birch
laminate, Formica Colorcore, Latigo leather, Sunbrella acrylic, top grain leather, foam rubber, steel, maple dowels
were showcased in portraits of political leaders such as
Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. A later design by
David Wolcott Kendall, deemed by his peers as “The Dean
of American Furniture Design,” was presented to William
McKinley during his term in the White House and has
become known as the McKinley armchair.
drawings, documented upholstery, artist renderings and
multimedia presentations. In addition, pedestals for all chairs,
wall-mounted graphics, and two DVDs are included with the
exhibition in addition to audio files for a cell phone tour.
The American Chair Collection, the center of this exhibition,
is a remarkable and comprehensive private collection of
iconic and historic chairs reaching back from the mid-1800s
to pieces from today’s studio movement. Not only does the
exhibition provide an opportunity for the viewer to see readily
recognizable pieces alongside those rarely seen by the public,
it also takes the viewer into the design studio through patent
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, a private,
non-profit visual arts educational institution and cultural
resource of the University of North Florida, serves the
community and its visitors through exhibitions, collections,
educational programs and publications designed to
enhance an understanding and appreciation of modern and
contemporary art with particular emphasis on works created
from 1960 to the present.
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the art of seating
American Design
Eero Saarinen (1910–1961), Grasshopper Arm Chair, 1946, Knoll Associates, New York, NY, laminated birch and upholstery
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the art of seating
American Design
John Henry Belter (1804–1863), Slipper Chair, c. 1860, John Henry Belter, New York, NY, laminated
carved rosewood, upholstery
Thomas Ustich Walter (1804–1887), House of Representatives Chamber Arm Chair, 1857, Bembe & Kimbel,
New York (1851–1861), Hammitt Desk Manufacturing Co., Philadelphia, PA, oak, pine, horsechair show cover
Unknown, Rustic Twig Bench, c. 1855, Janes Beebe & Company, Bronx, NY, cast iron with green paint
Herbert von Thaden (1898–1969), Adjustable Lounge Chair, 1947, Thaden Jordan Furniture Company
(1947), Roanoke, VA, laminated birch, birch, and brass
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the art of seating
American Design
Erwine Laverne (1909–2003) and Estelle Laverne (1915–1997), Acylic Chair (Lily Chair), 1957, molded acrylic resin, polyester upholstery
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the art of seating
American Design
Tanioka Shigeo, Floating Island, 2008, bamboo (hobichiku, madake), rattan, lacquer
Installation at The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL, 2011
Specifications
Number of Works
Requirements
More than 40 chairs
Moderate security, 5,000 square feet
Exhibition Components
Fee
Pedestals for all chairs, wall-mounted
$19,000 plus outgoing shipping
Booking Time
8 weeks
Availability
May 2015—December 2016
graphics and two DVDs
Shipping
Organized with
IA&A makes all arrangements; exhibitors pay
Contact
The Museum of Contemporary Art,
outgoing costs within the contiguous U.S.
Nicole Byers
Senior Exhibitions Manager
Jacksonville in collaboration with the
Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen
Education Material
Ph.D. Foundation
Audio files for cell phone tour; digital files for
nicoleb@artsandartists.org
exhibition brochure, children’s coloring book
Curator
Ben Thompson, curator at the Museum of
Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, Florida
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the art of seating
American Design
A Short History
Few objects tell the history of modern design as eloquently
as the chair. Aesthetics trends, the emergence of new technologies, ergonomics, social and cultural developments are
all reflected in the evolution of chair design.
The private collection at the core of the exhibition The Art of
Seating: 200 Years of American Design includes 40 chairs
that fit this description. Designed for function, each of these
pieces of art has a story to tell about its own genesis and
about our national history. This extensive, scholarly collection exemplifies the majority of the important movements
in American design over the last 200 years. Through its
objects, one can trace the vibrant and progressive history of
this country’s ingenuity and creativity. While all art is influenced by the design of previous generations and concurrent
works in other countries, the Jacobsen collection’s encyclopedic survey of 200 years stresses the formation of a
national character and shows the unique history of American
decorative design.
time period reflect the new American consciousness promoted by leaders like Thomas Jefferson who stressed the
importance of building a new nation with American craftsmanship, materials and technology.
Though unproven, the rocking chair has been commonly
held to be an American invention, a chair type initially most
at home in the frontier cabin or middleclass porch front. This
chair design was purely functional, not trendy. The Rocking
Arm Chair is a highly refined example crafted by Shakers,
who made an art out of deliberately undecorated, functional and beautifully constructed domestic objects. While
the Shakers did some commercial manufacturing of chairs,
more lovingly crafted pieces, such as this chair, were created
for the Shaker community. Production of Shaker chairs and
goods started dwindling after the late 19th century, when the
Shaker population began to decline and industrial production of household items increased. However, Shaker-style
furniture lived on and inspired furniture makers here and in
Scandinavia in the mid–20th century.
1800–1875
The creation of the chair collection began with the purchase
of Egyptian Revival Side Chair, c. 1875. Following Napoleon’s military ventures into Egypt and later archaeological
finds in the mid–19th century, the ancient icons dedicated to
and revering the afterlife were used commonly throughout
European and American designs, including architecture,
monuments, cemeteries, and even prisons. In the late 19th
century, the New York cabinetry and decorating firm Pottier & Stymus applied ancient Egyptian iconography to the
prevailing furniture forms of 1865–70 as a romanticizing
motif. This ebonized cherry chair transcends other Egyptian
revival designs for the thorough and consistent way in which
ancient motifs were synthesized into an object quite bold
and new for its day.
While the Egyptian Revival Side Chair may have been the
first purchase, the collection chronologically begins in 1810
with a charming doll’s chair and the Rocking Arm Chair,
c. 1840. Both are examples of the stylistic simplicity that
marked designs in the early 19th century. Examples from this
Unknown, Egyptian Revival Side Chair, c. 1875, Pottier & Stymus and Company, New York, NY, ebonized cherry
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the art of seating
American Design
The 19th century was marked by a succession of movements that drew their inspiration from sources outside of the
young nation. These movements included the Europeanbased Gothic, Rococo, Renaissance Revivals, and the Asian
Exoticism of the late 19th century. The Centripetal Spring
Arm Chair, c. 1850, possesses many of these influences in
one design, the ornamentation of the revivals as well as the
functional ingenuity of 19th–century American designers.
The rise of trade fairs in America in the 19th century provided
a platform on which to promote one’s “bright idea,” as well
as to foster a spirit of healthy competition. It then follows that
the 19th century saw a substantial rise in the phenomenon
of “Patent Furniture,” ideas from a new nation using new
materials and construction techniques as well as addressing functional needs of foldability, mobility, convertibility, and
comfort. The Centripetal Chair was made by the American
Chair Company (1829-58) of Troy, New York, and designed
and patented by Thomas E. Warren in 1849. Warren went
on to patent and utilize the same centripetal spring concept
on railway car passenger chairs.
The concept of comfort was a key goal in chair design of
the Victorian era. The Centripetal Chair was designed with
a stationary seat and back assembly that “floats” above the
quadrapod leg base on eight iron springs arranged radially from a center support post, allowing movement while
seated. Unlike the rocking chair, it can move laterally and
rotate in any combination of directions as well as vertically
under the weight of the sitter.
Thomas E. Warren, Centripetal Spring Arm Chair, c. 1850, cast iron, wodd, sheet metal, gauffrage velvet
show cover, faux rosewood graining
1875–1900
At the end of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th
century the Arts and Crafts movement thrived in the U.S.
where it was also known as the Craftsman Movement.
The movement emerged as a reaction to the poor quality
of mass-produced designs that were products of recent
industrial advances. Proponents of the Craftsman movement utilized pre-industrial methods of manufacture utilizing
hand tools and simple joints such as the mortise and tenon.
The “McKinley” Arm Chair, c. 1894–96, by David Walcott
Kendall (1851–1910) is a wonderful example of this style.
Kendall is credited with popularizing oak, which was plentiful
David Wolcott Kendall (1851–1910), “McKinley” Arm Chair, c. 1894–96, Phoenix Furniture Company
(founded 1870), Grand Rapids, MI, oak, cane, pigment and stain
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the art of seating
American Design
ment design was realized in the “International Style.” It was
defined largely by the Bauhaus (1919–1933), a school of art,
craft and design in the Weimar Republic of Germany and
through the work of Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier
(1887–1965). Their agenda was utopian in focus, socialistic, based on machine production, and sought to eliminate
nationalist identity and reference to historical styles in design.
The iconic seating furniture of the International style reflected
a machine aesthetic, and employed a reductive form of
simple, continuous tubular metal framing.
Warren McArthur (1885–1961), Sling Seat Lounge Chair, Warren McArthur Corporation, Rome, NY,
anodized aluminum, rubber, upholstery
but considered coarse. He also created a chemical laboratory in Phoenix, Arizona, to develop various finishes and
colors to make the grain of oak more pleasing to the eye of
the American consumer. The “Malachite” finish on this chair,
originally a much brighter shade of green, is a rare surviving
example of his innovation in the service of popular taste and
material availability. It is also possible that this chair is the first
ergonomically designed chair in America. Local oral tradition
stated that prior to the design process, persons of various
sizes were invited to sit in a deep snow bank; their various
sitting profiles and measurements were then transferred to
the drawing board.
1900–1960
The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the
upheaval of two World Wars. However, even amidst this
tumult it continued to be an innovative time for designers
who experimented with new materials and processes utilized
in the war effort. During the years of regeneration after the
Great War (1914–1918) the full flowering of modern move-
Though the forms of this type of seat frame drew on a
mechanistic iconography, it was actually achieved through
labor intensive, custom fabrication of welded and plated
steel tubing. McArthur’s Sling Seat Lounge Chair, c.1935,
utilizes a dynamic system of standardized parts, assembled
tectonically, employing an outer tube of brushed aluminum
and an inner rod of steel; considerable strength is attained
with minimal material as the outer tube is held in compression by the inner rod under tension. The process of anodizing aluminum was quite new to industry in the ‘20s, but
McArthur used it to impart a non-tarnishing and sometimes
colorful surface to his aluminum components.
Another designer who espoused the functional simplicity of
the Craftsman movement, as well as the clean lines of the
early modernists, was Frank Lloyd Wright. After preliminary
contact from the owner of the S.C. Johnson Wax Company,
Herbert Johnson, the decision was reached by consensus
in 1936 to hire Wright for the new administration building in
1936. The S.C. Johnson Company (1886), popularly known
as Johnson’s Wax, of Racine, Wisconsin, was family-owned
and operated. Among its many progressive policies, it was
one of the first American firms to institute profit sharing in
1917 for all employees. This business would become what
is arguably the architect’s greatest surviving commercial
commission. Wright not only designed the building itself but
all of the furniture and fixtures within it. The Johnson Wax
Company Chair, c. 1938, was originally conceived to have
only one front leg. There were several versions planned, one
for general office use, which were three-legged and fitted
with casters, and four-legged ones with brass sabots for
visitors. Anecdotes are many surrounding the arguments
over three versus four legs between the headstrong archi-
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the art of seating
American Design
tect, who thought it would promote good posture, and the
ever-practical client.
Eventually, after Wright himself tipped over in one of the
three-legged chairs, the four-legged version was fitted with
casters and is still used today. The feet were designed to be
interchangeable. The backs of the chairs were designed to
swivel and upholstered on both sides, doubling the longevity
of the seat backs due to normal wear and tear. The tubular
steel frame is painted in Wright’s “Cherokee red” to match
the color of the brick of the building. The upholstery fabric
was originally specified to be an “old gold” but was later
changed to brick red instead.
Following the Second World War, American designers began
to collaborate closely with industry. The Baby Boom of the
late 1940s and early 1950s contributed to an increasing
need for more furniture, including designs that were light,
compact and inexpensive. Designers such as Charles and
Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, and Harry Bertoia worked to
meet the demands of a citizenry that was furnishing their
homes and businesses in large numbers.
Modern design appealed to architect Charles Eames. Some
speculation indicates that his studies in architecture were
discontinued at Washington University in St. Louis due to
his support of Frank Lloyd Wright and modernism. Success followed, however, at the Cranbrook Academy of Art
where he met Ray Kaiser, a student of Hans Hoffman, and
Eero Saarinen. Charles and Ray married and together created some of the most influential designs in modern times.
Their molded plywood chair, “LCW” (Lounge Chair Wood),
c. 1954, was hailed as the “Chair of the Century” and is to
this day manufactured by Herman Miller, Inc. The striking
aesthetics of this chair, which can seem almost zoomorphic,
derive from the separation of the softly biomorphic shaped
back (head), seat (thorax), spine and legs, appearing to float
by way of the mostly unseen rubber shock mounts. The
chairs stance feels animated.
1960–Present
After the 1950s and 1960s, and what could be seen as the
peak of 20th–century American Design, the applied as well
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), Johnson Wax Company Chair, c. 1938, Steelcase Corporation, Grand
Rapids, MI, enameled steel, original loop pile upholstery, brass
as the fine art worlds experienced a conceptual fracturing.
The formal ideals and certainties of the modernist movement
were challenged during the latter part of the 20th century
by a new mode of thought now called Postmodernism. The
utopianism and conformity espoused by the modernists
were rejected by the Postmodernists in favor of difference
and certain uniqueness.
Frank Gehry is probably one of the more high profile architects of our time. However, oddly enough it was not a building that brought Gehry to national attention, but the design
of a line of furniture, made of common corrugated cardboard, which he called Easy Edges. Inspired by the qualities
inherent in the material he was using to make land contours
for architectural models, Gehry, in 1968, started experimenting with this technique in a small workshop with the help
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the art of seating
American Design
of three assistants. The hands-on approach they took to
developing this work is in keeping with Gehry’s architectural
design process, that being the construction of models rather
than drawing in two dimensions. The patent filing documents cite mass-production of pre-cut stock, assembled in
an extruded shape with transverse stringers for stability, to
effect a furniture object made of cross-laminated cardboard
into a monolithic block for strength, finished with wax and
spray-on fireproofing. In a sensational advertisement, three
of these chairs, barstools, are shown supporting a Volkswagen. The Easy Edges line proved to be a most successful
embodiment of the “Pop” movement in design, wonderfully irreverent but, unlike many other mass-produced pop
objects it improved with age, attaining a soft velvety texture
with use.
“Less is a bore,” said Philadelphia-based Robert Venturi (b.
1925) as a reaction to the traditional modernist approach.
Venturi celebrates the eclectic over the pure, the pragmatic over the theoretical and a messy vitality over obvious unity. The architect and designer delights in elements
that are purely decorative. The collection of chairs, tables
and sofa created for Knoll in the 1980s by Venturi and his
wife, architect Denise Scott-Brown, broke down barriers
between traditional and modern design. In the early ‘80s,
Venturi designed a series of chairs for Knoll International that
reflects references to historical styles while maintaining the
look and construction methods of modernity. The series,
produced between 1984–1988, consisted of five models.
The differing frontal silhouette of each suggests a side chair
in the Queen Anne, Chippendale, Sheraton, Empire, and Art
Deco styles. The laminated wood of the edges has a natural
finish, while the planar frontal surfaces are finished in plastic
laminate. The models were available in several bright solid
colors of, more rarely as seen in the Sheraton Chair, 1984
with a bold polychrome graphic interpretation based on an
actual antique chair. The inspiration Venturi drew upon for
the Sheraton model is a Boston painted “fancy” chair in the
collection of Winterthur Museum, circa 1805. This chair is
superbly reflective of the Post-Modern design movement
of the 1980–90’s, which sought to abandon the severity of
the modern movement and engage the public with a design
possessing a dialogue with design of the past.
Charles Eames (1907–1978) and Ray Eames (1912–1988), “LCW” (Lounge Chair Wood), c. 1945, Evans
Products Company for the Herman Furniture Company (1923), Grand Rapids, MI, molded birch plywood
Robert Charles Venturi (b. 1945), Sheraton Chair, 1984, Knoll International, Inc., East Greenville, PA,
screenprinted laminate over plywood, leather
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the art of seating
American Design
Vivian Beer (b. 1977), Current, 2004, Vivian Beer, Penland, NC, steel and auto paint
Born in Bar Harbor, Maine, in 1977, Vivian Beer pushes
the boundaries between art and craft, between utilitarian
object and sculpture. She continues the tradition of other
proponents of the American studio furniture movement such
as Sam Maloof, Wendell Castle, and Jon Brooks: a purely
American movement that peaked around 1960 and favored
the aesthetics of craft and the handmade over the machine
and mass production. The objects created by these artist/
designers tend to be unique, one-of-a-kind designs, and
do not lend themselves to high- volume production. When
asked to comment on the chair titled Current, 2004, Beer
states, “I wanted this chair to seem as if it had been cut and
crushed out of a single sheet of metal. At the same time I
wanted it to feel as fast and clean as water in its silhouette
with the power of an implied brutal forming in the background. The balance and the trickery is important.”
and interact with others. The same technologies have un-
At the beginning of the 21 century new technologies have
transformed the way we lead our lives, navigate our world,
then laminated together to form the profile of this light and
st
doubtedly had just as profound an effect on artist/designers.
Laurie Beckerman received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Pratt Institute, and, after graduation, designed lowincome housing in Brooklyn and Harlem for the Pratt Architectural Collaborative. While trained as an architect to work
on a monumental scale Beckerman finds furniture design “a
natural detour on a more manageable scale.” In Ionic Bench,
2010, Beckerman looks to the past for aesthetic inspiration
utilizing the capital shape of ancient Greek Ionic columns.
At the same time she clearly recognizes the importance of
the computer-assisted technologies available now. Beckerman slices one-inch thick Baltic Birch plywood utilizing
CNC (Computer Numeric Control) cutters. The pieces are
resilient bench.
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the art of seating Two Hundred Years of American Design Traveling

Transcription

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