FURNITURE

DESIGNERS

IN THE PAST

BY :
AR.VIKRAM ARORA

PREHISTORIC INTERIORS
While the famous cave paintings at Chauvet , Lascaux,
and Altamira clearly prove
that early peoples used these
caves, there is no
certainty that they were
dwelling places. Perhaps
they were emergency shelters,
places for special
rites or ceremonies, or they
may have been used
for the works of art that we
admire because they
preserved them from the
weather.

Stonehenge, Wiltshire,
England, c. 27501500
B.C.E.
Huge stones were carefully
placed to create interior
spaces
with a strong aesthetic impact,
whether they were originally
open to the sky (as now) or
roofed with materials that
have
since disappeared. The purpose
seems to have been connected
with rituals relating to the
movements of the sun, moon,
and stars. The circular
form is
characteristic of many ancient
human constructions.

Plan and sectional elevation

of a Matakam homestead
or tribal village in Cameroon,
Africa.
e circular form of the
mud
or stone hut creates a
room,
and several similar structures
are grouped together to
make
a house complex. e
simple
interiors hold storage
containers
and sleeping
pads on the dirt oors.

THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS

Reconstruction views of
the buildings and shrine room
of atal Hyk near Konya,
Turkey, c. 65005700 B.C.E.

All the buildings at atal Hyk

were accessed from the rooops.
ey form a continuous
grouping, the exterior walls
of which form a de facto
perimeter forti cation. e
buildings comprised dwellings,
workshops, and shrine rooms.
It is unknown what many of
the features of the shrine
rooms signify, but the human
gure with outstretched legs
represents a woman giving
birth, while the bull skulls were
thought to represent masculine
power.

Pre- Columbian America

Ruins at Mesa Verde, Colorado, begun c. 550

C.E.
e ruined Anasazi village known as the
Cli Palace built into the side of a cli
included round elements that were, when
roofed, places for cult ceremonies.

Plan of
Teotihuacn, Mexico,
seventh
century C.E.
The now-ruined city of Teotihuacn (near Mexico
City) can best be appreciated in a plan such as
this one. Prominent are
the large ceremonial and
governmental sites, which
dwarf the surrounding
buildings.

Courtyard,
Palace of Quetzalcoatl,
Teotihuacn, Mexico, seventh
century C.E.
In the courtyard of the palace,
bas reliefs of a bird are carved
in the faces of the square
stone pillars.

Cross- section of the

Great Pyramid at Giza,
Egypt,
c. 25502480 B.C.E.
Although the internal spaces
are tiny in comparison with
the huge mass of the pyramid,
their forms and relationships
are complex and signifi cant. A
passage leads to a false tomb
chamber, while the entrances
to the passages leading to the
actual tomb were carefully
concealed
in the hope of defeating
any efforts to break into the
actual tomb of Khufu (Cheops),
the pharaoh for whom the
pyramid was built.

Temple of Amon, Karnak,

Egypt, c. 1530 B.C.E.
The hypostyle hall is a
vast space almost fi lled
by the columns that supported a stone roof.
Incised hieroglyphics
covered the columns.
Originally, the surfaces were painted in bright
colors (still partially
visible), which would have
glowed in the dim light
admitted by roof- level
clerestories.

Viollet-le-Duc, Interior
of Egyptian Palace from
The Habitations of Man in
All Ages, 1876.
In this Viollet-le-Duc drawing
the courtyard of an Egyptian
palace is shown looking toward
the pylons of the entrance
gate. The columns would have
been of reed, coated with mud
plaster and painted in colorful designs.

A ceremonial throne from

the tomb of Tutankhamen, c.
134525 B.C.E.
The basic structure of ebony wood
can be glimpsed only in the legs of
the chair, which is encrusted with
inlays of gold and ivory with panels of painted, symbolic imagery.
The seating function is clearly subordinated to the display of wealth,
grandeur, and power conveyed by
the richness of material and sublime craftsmanship with which they
have been assembled.

Egyptian bed and box,

c. 13141158 B.C.E.
These examples of Egyptian furniture were retrieved from a tomb. The
bed has feet carved in
animal form while the
box of ebony and ivory is
made in proportions that
r late to the Golden mean
of 1:1.618, that is much
used in architecture.

Egyptian chair, c. 14001295

B.C.E.
In this Egyptian chair of wooden construction, beautifully crafted joints
(made with stone tools) form a wide
back and frame the seat, which is
of woven rush caning. The low seat
height suggests that cross-legged
seating was the norm.

Classical Civilizations: Greece and Rome

Kline from klino (cause to lean), from

which also the word clinic and clinical
is derived (that on which one reclines).
It was made of wood or bronze, and
was often richly adorned. Greek bedsteads were exported to foreign parts.
(White and Morgan, illustrated dictionary of Xenophons Anabasis)

Helena Modrzejewska
(Helena Modjeska) (18401909), Polish-American
actress, as Laodamia on a
Klismos chair

Klismos (chair) reconstruction. According to Bishop

(1979), the backs of these
chairs, referred to as Stiles,
were designed to the curvature of the back for comfort
and extended to the shoulders. Used mainly by women.

The first aesthetically significant chair form was created

in ancient Greece. The klismos
as a graceful, symmetrical
chair which became a prototype

of designs that reappeared

throughout the centuries
of chair design that follow.
(Caroline Kelly, The Beauty
of Fit: Proportion and Anthropometry in Chair Design
and Encyclopedia Britannica
2005)

e stele of Hegisto
c. 410 B.C.E.
e bas-relief shows an elegantly dressed lady seated in a chair of the unique Greek
type called a klismos. e outward curving legs of wood support a square frame, which
has a surface of leather straps. e rear legs continue up to a backrest panel. ere is a
small footrest in front of the chair.

Greek Revival
Greek classical furniture was the inspiration for
the designers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Archaeological finds fired the imagination
of the world, and the simple, elegant lines of ancient Greeks furniture inspired the cabinet makers
of the day to move away from earlier, heavier and
more ornate styles to imitate ancient Greek and
Roman designs. This gave rise to the Neoclassical
style of furniture, which is much sought after by
antique collectors of today. Early Greek furniture
design has influenced the world of interior decorating, just as surely as early Greek thinking has
left its mark on the world of science and technology. Our section on Greek decor & furniture will give
you some ideas on shopping for greek inspired furniture.

ROME
Ancient Roman design drew extensively on Greek precedents.
The links were the Etruscan civilization on the Italian peninsula, which had in turn been infl uenced by the Greek colonies
in Italy, and the direct contact that occurred as the Romans
invaded Greece and fi nally made it a part of the Roman empire.
As taken over and executed in stone later by the Romans,
this became known as the Tuscan order, the fi rst of the fi ve
orders identified as Roman. Pottery and wall paintings from
Etruscan tombs often show details of everyday life, and give
a limited idea of furniture and other artifacts predating Roman times.

Furniture and Other Interior Furnishings

The hot volcanic lava and ash that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum destroyed the wood enstructural parts of houses
and objects of wood, but elements that were not of inflammable materials survivedstone couches and tables, iron
and bronze artifacts, oil lamps and charcoal braziers, and
decorative Fresco paintings and mosaics. Taken together,

the ruins, the surviving objects, and the images in paintings

and mosaics have made it possible to reconstruct Pompeian,
and therefore ancient Roman, design in considerable detail .
Walls of rooms, uncluttered by windows, were generally painted with simulated architectural detail of moldings and pilasters forming a plain Wainscot below; the Panels above might
be painted in solid color, or with naturalistic paintings of
exterior scenes or im agery from mythology or daily life.

The atrium, House of the Vettii.

The luxurious house was partially preserved by being buried
by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The atrium has a central
pool, open to the sky, and is surrounded by a symmetrical arrangement of rooms. Beyond, there is a garden surrounded by
a peristyle of columns supporting a roof.

Wall paintings in the House of the Vettii.

The walls of the rooms of the houses in Pompeii often included paintings of simulated architectural detail. The painting was of considerable artistic merit, and other paintings
with architectural themes, such as those in the corner of
this room, may give clues to the design of local buildings no
longer extant.

Reconstruction drawing of a Pompeian house interior, before

79 C.E.
This restoration drawing illustrates the interior of a Pompeian house as it might have been shortly before the eruption
of Vesuvius in 79 C.E. The architectural detail, the painted
wall surfaces, and the rich fabric draperies give an idea of
the taste of affluent Roman families at the height of the Roman empire.

Reconstruction drawing of a Roman bed, c. 20

B.C.E.
This Roman bed of the first century C.E. has legs and a frame
of bronze supporting a surface of leather, cloth, or woven
material. The bronze bars at head and foot end in sculptured
decorative serpents heads.

Reconstruction drawing
of a Roman throne, 6020
B.C.E.
A throne-like Roman chair is
here shown in a drawing based
on images appearing in Roman
wall paintings. The form is clearly based on the Greek klismos,
but has been given a more massive back, supported by upright
members on either side that rise
from the tops of the back legs
so as to increase structural solidity.

Reconstruction drawing
of a Roman wicker chair,
third century C.E.
Chairs of wicker were first
made in the Etruscan era. Similar types were made by the Romans in wicker, typically in tub
form, in both Rome and many
parts of the Roman empire.

EARLY CHRISTIAN, BYZANTINE, AND ROMANESQUE

In design history, a time of confl icting trends begins with the
growth of the European direction usually called Early Christian design, the work centering in the eastern empire called
Byzantine, and the emergence of the Romanesque style that
came to dominate medieval Europe. These aspects of design history overlap, interrelate, and to a degree confl ict, so that
the period from the fall of Rome, usually dated at 476, until 1100 can seem disordered and confusing.

S. Costanza, Rome, c. 350 C.E.

Built as a mausoleum for the daughter of the emperor Constantine, the building was later converted to a Christian
church. The central domed space is surrounded by an aisle,
or ambulatory, with a mosaiccovered barrel vault overhead.
Clerestory windows light the central space, while marble
wall surfaces and the mosaic introduce varied color.

With the relocation of the Roman imperial capital to Byzantium (330 c.e.), renamed Constantinople by the emperor Constantine, and with the eventual break into separate eastern
and western Roman empires, a new center of development was
created. The influence of Byzantine architecture and design
developed in the east, flowed back to Italy to mingle with the
Early Christian work evolving there at the same time.

Mosaic of Empress Theodora and attendants, S. Vitale, Ravenna, Italy, c. 547 C.E.
While Byzantine mosaics are brilliantly colorful and decorative, they also served a didactic function, illustrating church
history for a public largely unable to read.

ISLAMIC AND ASIAN TRADITIONS

The key structure in any Islamic community was the Mosque.
Unlike the temples and churches of other religions, the
mosque is not a house of God but rather a prayer hall,
where the faithful assemble to pray, facing toward Mecca,
and to hear readings from the Koran. Although mosques vary
greatly in design and in size, they share certain characteristics. The enclosed portion of the mosque is sometimes partly an open space but is also often columned, forming long
aisles. A small niche on one wall is the Mihrab marking the
direction to face toward Mecca. Another usual element is a
Mimbar or pulpit for preaching and Koran readings. There is
often an open court in front of the mosque proper, with a
pool or fountain for the washing called for by Muslim practice before entering the mosque itself. A tower (or sometimes
several towers) related to the mosque is known as a Minaret.
It has a specifi c function as a high point from which a call to
prayer can be made to summon worshipers to the mosque several times each day.

Great Mosque, Damascus, Syria (begun 707 C.E.).

The Great Mosque, also known as the Umayyad Mosque, was
built by Umayyad Calif al-Walid on an earlier Christian structure. It is said to contain the skull of John the Baptist. The
tomb of St. John is the columned structure set within the
central hall. It is made up of three timber-roofed aisles separated by arcades, which create a space similar to that of a Roman basilica. Indeed, the building retained many of its original
Byzantine Christian details when converted to a mosque. This
large triple-aisled space forms the prayer hall, which, together with the open courtyard adjacent, forms the basis for the
design of many later mosques.

ISLAMIC FURNISHINGS
Furniture was little used in Islamic interiors. Low benches
or couches were generally covered by textiles, carpets, and
rugs. The development of weaving techniques in the Near East
generated the design of rugs of great beauty and variety. A
number of regions developed individual styles that give their
names to the greatly valued oriental rugs still collected
and imitated. Certain Islamic characteristics can be identifi ed
in the rugs produced in the Muslim countries. In general, the
prohibition of representational images led to the development
of traditions of rich geometric complexity, the use of abstract
elements with calligraphic bases, and the use of highly conventionalized flower and plant forms to avoid any realistic
pictorial imagery. Many rugs were intended for use by kneeling
worshipers at daily prayers. Such prayer rugs are of appropriate size and incorporate a panel with a strongly directional form, intended to be pointed toward Mecca when in use for
prayer . Rugs were produced over many centuries in most of
the Islamic regions. As early as the thirteenth century, Anatolian rugs (from the region of todays Turkey), usually with
geo metric patterns, were made in considerable numbers. Persia became a dominant rug- producing region by the sixteenth
century, introducing conventionalized animal and plant images alongside geometric patterns. In these rugs, wide borders
are made up of repeated fi gures, while the central area often
uses one or more large medallion element. Red and blue color
tones are increasingly joined by yellows and greens. Turkish rugs and carpets are generally Persian in character, and
were probably often the work of Persian weavers. Rugmaking
in the Caucasus follows Persian practice but tends to introduce bolder and larger motifs. Rugs from Turkestan and related central Asian regions are usually dominated by strong
red coloring. The region called Bokhara (now Uzbekistan) and
the major city of that name was on the route of the caravans
that enabled connections between the Near East and China,
India, Persia, and Russia. Afghanistan has been the source of
typical Bokhara- style rugs, having red backgrounds with a
regular pattern of octagonal lozenge elements arranged in
geometric rows . Antique oriental rugs are usually of a unique
design, with each rug of a given type slightly varied in its patterning.

Bokhara rug, first half of the ninteenth century.

This Bokhara rug has a typical repeating pattern of lozenge
forms in black on a red background.

Prayer rug, Turkey, late sixteenth century.

This prayer rug contains a strongly pointed central form intended for positioning in the direction of Mecca. The imagery
of the center panel illustrates a niche or window of architectural form containing fl oral elements. The outer band mixes
floral and abstract elements, and the center panel and outer
band are edged with geometricpatterned borders.

Kazakh star rug, early nineteenth century.

A rug from the Eastern Caucasian regions (Dagestan and Azerbaijan) with strong and bold patterns. The four-pointed and
eight-pointed stars of bold shape and brilliantly contrasting
color are Kazakh characteristics, as is the presence of some
green and gold color along with the strong red, dark blue,
and yellow banding.

INDIAN FURNISHINGS
Furniture did not have a major role in the interiors of historic India. In general, people would sit on low cushions,
and would sleep on pads laid on the floor. The small, low
tables and stools made of wood that were used have generally disappeared. Thrones are depicted in some carved reliefs
of Buddhist origin, around the second century c.e. They appear as low platforms of wood or stone, sometimes with a low
back. The elaborately carved and jeweled throne, called the
Peacock Throne, of Shah Jahan is an example of the richness of the imperial Mughal style as it appeared at the Red
Fort in Delhi discussed above. With the beginnings of Muslim
infl uence, from about 1000 c.e., larger beds, some chests,
and low tables came into use, but were never widely accepted.
Carpets and textiles made up for the relative rarity of Indian
furniture. Since wood was, in the Indian climate, of poor and
temporary quality, other materials, such as ivory, stone, or
metals, came into use for the small number of furniture objects made for the wealthy. With the growing European infl
uences, more furniture came to be made in India, chiefl y for
export to England and other European countries. Such furniture tended to follow European concepts, but with elaborate
surface decoration in Indian styles. Indian carpets and rugs
of varied designs characteristic of different regions were

widely used in India, and became well known and much valued
in Europe and America as oriental rugs. Persian weaving was
introduced to India under Emperor Akbar. In about 1580 he
established a carpet factory in Lahore. Carpet- weaving became common in many Indian cities thereafter. Indian carpets
follow Persian practice, although there is greater use of
naturalistic plant and animal motifs. A red ground and blue
border covered with patterns of flower forms is typical. A
seventeenth- century rug, for example, illustrates a palace
scene facing into a foreground fi lled with animals in varied
activities (4.32), in which a chained cheetah is being transported on a wheeled cart.

4.31 Persian miniature of Shah 4.32 Indian rug, sevenJahan on the Peacock Throne, teenth century.
Mughal school, eighteenth

In this seventeenth-century
century.
Indian rug, Persian practice
In this Persian miniature paint- can be traced in the central
ing, the famously extravagant panel with its fi gurative imand jewel-loving Jahan is
agery. A palace scene is illusshown seated on his carved
trated, with animals visible in
and jeweled Peacock Throne at various activities in a fi eld or
the Red Fort palace. He is ac- garden.
cepting a gift of pearls while
dancers and musicians provide
entertainment.

CHINESE FURNISHINGS
Before the second century c.e., Chinese custom made no use
of furniture, with mats or sacks of fabric placed on the fl
oor for seating. But thereafter there developed stools,
chairs, and chests skillfully made in wood, with fi ne joints
made without glue or nails (4.50 and 4.51). Few early examples survive, but here again the conservatism of Chinese
society suggests that the surviving later work does not diff
er signifi cantly from earlier practice. The best- known examples of Chinese furniture of fi ne design date from the Ming
dynasty (13681644). Armchairs of great elegance (4.52)
were produced in hardwoods such as certain rosewoods
and sandalwoods. Couches, beds, cabinets, and tables were
also made to serve in palace interiors and in the houses of
the wealthy. Lacquer fi nishes in red and other colors also
came into use. Most traditional Chinese furniture uses little
or no ornament, although carved screens and brackets are
sometimes used to help with the bracing of table structures.
Cabinets (4.53) are usually of great simplicity, with polished
brass hardware forming the only ornament. Chinese painting
has a tradition of fi ne work using ink on paper (itself a Chinese invention, from around 100 c.e.) and Lacquer on screens
and panels. Chinese wallpaper, with images of landscapes, animals, and human fi gures, appeared in the eighteenth century,
and was produced for export as well as being used in Chinese
interiors. Silk textiles were made in China as early as the second century b.c.e. and have continued to be produced in fi ne
designs until modern times; however, textiles were most used
in apparel, and have had no major role in interiors. Chinese
rugs were generally woven in silk, a fragile material that does
not last long. As a result, no Chinese rugs survive from before the fifteenth century. Many rugs from the Ming
dynasty were made for the imperial court and for wealthy citizens. Rugs from this period are among the earliest Chinese
rugs to survive, as a result of their increasing use of cotton
fibers along with silk. Borders are usually narrow and incorporate symbolic religious elements. Medallions appear in
Chinese rugs in borders and in central areas, and they often
form a large central feature (4.54). The colors of Chinese
rugs are generally paler than those of other oriental types.
Yellow and pale green are common, while blue and white, often used together, also appear. Awareness of Chinese design
in the Western world was limited to the few fragments (and
verbal accounts) carried by Marco Polo and later explorers
and pioneers traveling the overland Silk Route from the thirteenth century. With the development of the tea trade, and
its sea connections to the Far East, an increasing fl ow of
knowledge and transport of actual objects made Chinese art
and design popular in Europe and America from the eighteenth
century onward. The development of photography aided the
availability of visual images in a period when travel to the Far

East remained slow and difficult. Western infl uence on design in China became obvious in the nineteenth century, when
many Chinese architects were trained at Western universities
and subsequently carried back to China the then- current
ideas of Beaux- Arts eclectic architecture. Interior design of
eclectic buildings followed Western practice, with some recognition of Chinese traditions. In the twentieth century, Chinese
architects have embraced International Style modernism. An
outstanding example of this is a hotel in Beijing, the Fragrant
Hill Hotel, by the American architect I. M. Pei (4.55).
Ming dynasty chair, 15001600.
The simple unornamented
design of this arm chair, made
from huanghuali wood, is typical
of the fi ne furniture made
for use in houses of wealthy
citizens.

Ming dynasty cabinet, 13681644.

This cabinet is of great simplicity,
in red lacquer, with brass
hardware providing the only
element of ornament.

Ming dynasty rug, c. 1800.

This Chinese rug, from the time
of the Ming dynasty, has a
large central element and narrow borders, which are characteristic of the type, as are the
pale yellow and blue colors.

THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

TO BE PRECISE, GOTHIC FURNITURE CREATIONS BELONG TO
THE GOTHIC PERIOD PREVALENT BETWEEN THE LATTER HALF
OF THE 12TH CENTURY TO THE MID-16TH CENTURY, I.E. FROM
1150 TO 1550. THIS PERIOD IS REGARDED AS THE PHASE OF
AUTHENTIC OR OLD WORLD GOTHIC FURNITURE CREATIONS.
FURNITURE ITEMS FROM THIS ERA ARE REGARDED AS THE
MOST PRIZED GOTHIC FURNITURE ANTIQUES. GOTHIC FURNITURE LOST ITS IDENTITY DURING THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD
THAT STARTED GAINING MOMENTUM IN 16TH CENTURY.

ELEMENTS OF GOTHIC STYLE

Great walled cities, large and elaborately defend-ed castles,
knights in armor on horseback, great cathedrals with their
stained glass, buttresses, and gargoylesall these make up
our picture of Europe between the twelfth and fourteenth
centuries, the era characterized as Gothic in recognition of
the importance of the kind of architecture given that stylistic
name. The term Gothic was originally pejorative: it came into
use in post- medieval times when the work of the Middle Ages
came to be regarded as crude and barbariclike that of the
Visigoths who were supposed to be lacking in the taste and elegance of succeeding generations.

Derivation of a Gothic vault.

The first diagram shows a vault with a square base and semicircular arches. The diagonal arches rise higher than the
arches on the four sides. In order to use the height determined by the diagonal arches for the arches on the four
sides, pointed arches are laid out with required height and
depth. This forms a Gothic vault, as shown in the second diagram. To construct a vault with a rectangular base, as shown
in the third diagram, pointed arches for the four sides can be
laid out with any required width and with heights equal to the
height of the diagonal arches.

Analysis of built structures demonstrates that design was not

a casual or improvisational matter. It can be shown that one
Gothic building after another makes use of theoretical geometric concepts in a way that parallels ancient Egyptian and
Greek practice. Superimposed circles, squares, and octagons
underlie the layout of many floor plans. Similarly, geometric figures can be developed to fi t cross- sections and elevations, suggesting that aesthetic controls were established
through sophisticated knowledge of theoretical systems of
proportion. The west front of Notre Dame in Paris can be fitted to a grid of squares, 6 wide by 9 high, with the main subdivisions of its design falling on the grid lines. The Golden
mean proportion shows up time after time, laid out with the aid
of a simple geometric exercise that could easily be developed
with a simple cord and pegs as the only instruments required.

Chateau de Langeais, Loire valley, France, c. 1490.

This room has retained much of the medieval character that
must have characterized many of the other rooms of the castle when it was fi rst built. The large fireplace is original to
the buildings construction and would have been the rooms
only source of heat. The curtained bed is also very typical of
the period, and the curtains a necessity to keep out drafts in
such a large room.

Gothic chair,
late fifteenth
century.

A Gothic chair,
which uses a typical box chest as a
base, is completed
by extension into
the arms and the
additions of a back.
The material is
solid wood in thick
posts and rails
holding
thinner wooden
panels.

TRESTLE TABLE, ENGLAND, C. 1500.

This trestle table of oak is
of the kind that might typically have been used in a
late medieval castle or manor house. This example was
formerly in the kitchens of
the Priory of Durham
Cathedral.

Miniature from Giovanni Boccaccio,

Le Livre des femmes nobles et renommes,French edition, fifteenth
century.
In a fi fteenth-century miniature painting, an artist is seen is seen at work
on a self-portrait. The subject is
from a story in Boccaccios Livre des
femmes et renommes. It is interesting to note the L-shaped work station,
which to a twentyfirst century eye
might evoke modern offi ce arrangements.The chair is of a wooden-tub
type, based on the technology of barrel making.

THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY

Palazzo Davanzati, Florence, 1390s.

The bedroom of the palazzo has been fi nely preserved. The

floor is tiled, and the ceiling, which is of exposed wood construction, is painted with
a decorative pattern. The furniture is minimala bed, a cradle,
two chests, and two chairsbut the room is richly decorated
by the fresco
painting of wall surfaces, with repeating patterns on the lower surfaces, at the level of a frieze, and in the arcaded pattern above. Strong reds give
an overall effect of warmth. A shuttered window and the corner fi replace complete the functional equipment of the room.

Cassone decorated with a scene of the Palio of S. Giovanni by

Giovanni Francesco Toscani, fifteenth century.

Cassapanca, Palazzo Davanzati,

Savonarola
Florence,Italy, sixteenth century. chair, c. 1500.

Sgabello chair,
Strozzi Palace,
Florence,
Italy, fi fteenth
century.

Italian harpsichord, Museo degli Strumenti Musicali, Milan, Italy, sixteenth century.
The harpsichord was an important keyboard instrument, first developed in
Renaissance Italy where a body of music
was composed for it. The actual instrument was of light construction, but was
slipped into a furniture case on legs that
was usually elaborately decorated, as in
this example.

 Cassapanca: A variation on the cassone resulting from the

addition of a back and arms, this unit was usable for seating
as well as for storage.
Credenza: A somewhat taller cabinet, the credenza served
as a sideboard or serving table. It also provided storage for
silver, glassware, dishes, and linens.
Sedia: This was a somewhat massive chair with four square
legs supporting arms. Seat and back were bands of leather attached to the frame with nails, the nailheads acting as a form
of decorative trim.
Savonarola chair: This folding arm chair was a widely used
type of furniture. Made up from many curved strips of wood
pivoted at the center of the seat, it was named after the famous Italian preacher who, it is thought, favored this design.
Sgabello: This might be a stool or a small, simple chairreally a stool with a wooden slab back. It was often three- legged. The seat might be octagonal, and elegant versions might
have richly carved details. A sgabello from the Strozzi Palace survives as a fi ne example of the type.
Dante chair: A similar chair to the Savonarola, this had a
more solid frame, pivoted in the same way but with a cushioned
seat and stretched cloth back.

Baroque and Rococo in Italy and Northern Europe

ELEMENTS OF BAROQUE STYLE
Baroque architecture and interior design came to include a
new emphasis on sculptural and painted forms. Shapes from
nature, leaves, shells, and scrolls provided a vocabulary to
enrich the classical form of earlier Renaissance design. The
basic shapes of walls and ceilings were modified, and sometimes were even eclipsed, with three- dimensional sculptural
decoration, figures, and floral elements. These in turn were
painted in varied colors and merged into painted settings that
off ered illusionistic views of space peopled by figures full
of movement and activity. The terms Quadratura for architectural space painted in illusionistic perspective; Quadroriportato, for images enclosed by illusionistic framing; and Di sotto
in s, for painting showing an illusionistic view upward into a
seeming dome, sky, or heaven, have come into use to describe
techniques of decoration that are typically Baroque.
Stage techniques developed in the Baroque. A proscenium
arch was used to frame the opening to a stage so that it was
a separate compartment in front of the audience seating area.
Stage design, creating illusions of space through painting on
fl at scenic drops in order to introduce elements of visual excitement into drama, had a strong infl uence on Baroque and
Rococo interior design. Stage design was in turn
influenced by Baroque skills in the use of perspective and
related spatial eff ects and in the use of light as an active
element.

MICHELANGELO
Michelangelo Buonarroti was one of the most talented and influential Italian artists of the 15th Century. His work helped
to characterize the Renaissance, a period in European history
which brought renewed interest in Ancient Greek and Roman
sciences, philosophies and arts (and the idealized beauty of
the human form). Born in Caprese, near Florence in Tuscany,
an area noted for its marble quarries, Michelangelo was fascinated by stone from his earliest years. Although first apprenticed to learn the art of fresco painting, he was determined to
become a sculptor. By his mid-twenties, he had produced both
the Piet and David, both incomparable sculptures still
highly esteemed to this day. Each reflected his views about
the beauty of the human form as Gods most marvelous creation, an idea that was a cornerstone of Renaissance thought

The British Museum has almost ninety drawings by Michelangelo, one of the towering figures of the Italian renaissance
whose artistic activities encompassed sculpture, painting, and
architecture. Underlying his achievements in all these fields
was a dedication to drawing: the perfection of the finished
work achieved only after an exhaustive preparation of every
aspect of the finished composition on paper. This manner of
working, a constant in his seventyyear career, was central to
the Florentine artistic tradition that Michelangelo learnt in
the workshop of the painters Domenico and Davide Ghirlandaio. Michelangelo in turn passed this precept down to his
pupils, as is shown by the exhortation directed to his pupil
Antonio Mini written on one of the Museums drawings: Draw,
Antonio, draw, and dont waste time.

GIANLORENZO BERNINI
(15981680)

Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598

1680) began his career as
a sculptor and continued
to work on sculptural projects while turning his attention to architecture. Thus
he brought a sculptors way
of thinking into the development of the Baroque. In
1629 he became the architect in charge of work at St.
Peters, designing the huge
Baldacchino of 162433
that stands in the central
position under the dome .

This introduced a Baroque

focal point that dominates
the space and moves its internal character into the Baroque vocabulary.
It is both a work of sculpture and, in effect, a building
made up of four huge bronze
columns that support a roof
or canopy at the height of a
ten- story building. The columns are at least nominally
Roman and Corinthian, but
they have been twisted, as if
by some giant, making them
active and mobile rather than
static supporting elements.
Above the canopy top, Scurved half arches support a
gilded cross on an orb. The
whole structure is encrusted
with sculptured vines, cherubs, and fi gures, making the
surfaces alive with activity.
Behind the altar at the apse
end of the church there is
another Bernini composition.
The supposed chair of St.
Peter, surmounted by a giant
gold sunburst surrounding a
yellow glass center, is visible from the entire length of
the building.

FURNITURE AND OTHER INTERIOR FEATURES

Baroque cabinet, Palazzo
Vecchio, Florence, Italy,
1660.

Furniture of the Baroque era does not differ in basic character from that of the Renaissance, but since Baroque design served only the wealthy and powerful, elaborationeven
ostentation are typical of objects made for the rooms of
palaces. The basic forms of cabinet furniture were modified
to introduce curving or bulging shapes for door or drawer
fronts. Legs were often turned on foot or on water- powered
lathes to create round ball or bulbous, jug- like shapes.
Carving of plant forms, figures, allegorical images, and coats
of arms were favorite forms of ornamentation, along with
architectural moldings, pilasters, and columns. The development of veneer made it possible to create wood surfaces
in varied colors and patterns, often used together with inlays of other decorative and exotic materials. Ivory, tortoise
shell, and silver were sometimes used, and techniques for simulating materials by marbling, graining, painting, and gilding
were valued not as economy measures, but as demonstrations
of skilled technique.
Wardrobe, German School,
1778.
In this wardrobe cabinet of the
German Rococo, the doors are
ornamented with paintings
suggesting the four seasons,
along with surrounding fl oral
decoration.
Franois de Cuvillies, console
table, 1739.
This table was designed by the
architect of the building to
relate to the florid ornament
of the mirrored Spiegelsaal
of the Amalienburg of the
Schloss Nymphenburg Palace
in Munich.

RENAISSANCE, BAROQUE, AND ROCOCO IN

FRANCE AND SPAIN

Salon, Paris htel, le St. Louis, Paris, eighteenth century.

An elegant interior with subdued Rococo ornamentation and
color. The harpsichord at the right has an ornamented leg
base and painted imagry on its side and on the interior of the
lid.

Louis Le Vau and Jules Hardouin- Mansart, Galerie des

Glaces, Chteau
of Versailles, from 1679.
Charles Lebrun was the prime designer of the interior detail
of the Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors). The simple basic
design of this huge gallery was given its elaborate character
by the many mirrors along one
wall, which refl ect the views of the garden through the windows opposite and, at night, the light of innumerable candles.
Richly colored marble and gilded plasterwork detail enrich
the walls, while the barrel- vaulted ceiling was painted by Lebrun in fl amecolored and amber tones, with elaborate allegorical scenes celebrating the early years
of the reign of Louis XIV. The floor is of patterned wooden
parquet.

harles Rennie
Mackintosh (1868 1928) is most well
known as an artist
and architect. Perhaps they know him
through his masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art
(GSA), or his distinct floral decorative motifs that
most often come to
mind when theres
talk of Mackintosh
style

For over 20 years Mackintosh worked almost exclusively

in Glasgow where all his best-known work was created and
where much of it still remains, yet he left Glasgow in search
of greater success and died in London in relative obscurity. It
is perhaps ironic that he was given little recognition by his native city at the time, for by the end of the 20th century he was
being recognised as the father of Glasgow Style and one of
the driving forces behind a new approach to modern architecture.

designed the Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall

1903 He
Street for Miss Cranston the Willow Leaf motif
predominated throughout. This was the first time
that Macintosh played with space everything had
to be real space; no sham ceilings etc

Mackintosh designed the chancel furniture in

Holy Trinity Church, Bridge of Allan

1904

Charles Rennie Mackintosh became a partner of

Honeyman and Keppie

1903-1907
Scotland Street School was his last commission in Glasgow he was beginning to be
seen as too odd and individual.

1916

He received a commission to redesign the

home of W.J. Bassett-Lowke at 78 Derngate
in Northampton This undertaking would be
his last architectural and interior design
project. The house is now open to the public.
Mackintosh became isolated as an architect
and exile had already taken place in his mind.
The Room de Luxe at The Willow Tearooms features
furniture and interior design by Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald.

MATERIALS:
This chair could be manufactured from most natural woods.
Ebonised sycamore was used by
Mackintosh to manufacture some
of his chairs. Sycamore can be
shaped and worked to form a variety of joints. When ebonised,
the wood looks bold, dark and
creates a strong image. Sycamore
is durable and resists knocks
and general everyday handling.
Although a relatively expensive
wood, it is ideal for a quality piece
of furniture such as this chair.

STABILITY:
The chair looks extremely stable. It has four legs, spaced
apart to ensure that the chair is unlikely to topple over when
used. The high back supports the upper body, preventing the
user from leaning back too far. The chair is well made, and
the latticed back is probably mortise and tenoned, provides
immense overall strength

ERGONOMICS AND COMFORT:

The chair has been designed to be comfortable to use. The
high back supports the user, so that he/she sits upright at a
table, in a comfortably seating position. It has been designed
with the height of a table in mind. This ensures that a person
sat in the chair can use items on the table without stretching,
as the chairs height is relative to the table top height. The
width and depth of the chair is designed for the average person.

STYLE:
This is a stylish chair manufactured in 1903. Art Nouveau
chairs of the time were highly decorative. This Mackintosh
chair has many modernist features. It is plain and simple in
style and yet has enough features, such as the lattice work
on the back rest. It is a minimalist design, well manufactured
by skilled craftsmen. This is not a mass produced piece of
furniture, but made for a single customer. The chair has been
designed to complement the room in which it will be installed.

DS2 Table - Charles Rennie

Mackintosh - 1918

CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH DINING TABLE

DS 1

MACKINTOSH AR- CHARLES REN- MACKINTOSH

GYLE CHAIR
NIE MACKININGRAM CHAIR
TOSH HILL
HOUSE CHAIR

Today, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) is considered one of the leading British Art Nouveau, as well as lesser-known Glasgow current movement.
Architect, designer and painter, Scotland, spent most of his
life in Glasgow, thriving industrial growth in those years saw
the demand and consumption of artistic products, manufactured on an industrial scale for the benefit of the masses.
Together with the climate of the industrial revolution, the
projects also suffered the influence of Mackintosh Asian and
emerging modernist ideas. Mackintosh borrowed from Japanese-style sobriety and economy of means, with the clever use
of contrasting light and shadow, and the attention to space
as a way evocative of inner peace and serenity.
The intent of meeting the needs of the people made Charles
Rennie Mackintosh a pioneer of the modernist movement, which
aimed to create a current practical and functional design of
all new and future-oriented.
Actually Mackintosh departs from mere utilitarian modernist:
its products are designed to meet individuals who need art,
not of simple machines.
Mackintosh is celebrated some important architectural works,
many of which are located in Glasgow. Among the many include
the Queens Cross Church in Glasgow, the tea room Willow
Tearooms in Glasgow and Hill House in Helensburgh (National
Trust for Scotland).
Combining modernity with the progressive spirit of romance, Mackintosh has created some of the most influential
20th-century decorative patterns. Few can boast a few designers have created a unique and individual style so instantly
recognizable.
His works combine the craft English tradiction with the organic forms of Art Nouveau, while the mature works using
bold geometric shapes.
Of the various works of Charles Rennie Mackintosh design we
have chosen to present the Hill House Chair, originally located in the bedroom of the Hill House in Helensburgh (Dunbartonshire), the home designed for publisher Walter W. Blackie,
it is a high back seat features a geometric, oriental inspiration, and a padded seat available in different colors.
It a piece of furniture with a strong decorative effect, elegant and appropriate for every type of environment, and which
is still surprisingly current

illiam Morris (24 March

1834 - 3 October 1896)
was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and
socialist associated with
the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English
Arts and Crafts Movement.
Morris (1834-96) had
trained as an architect and
had early unfulfilled ambitions to be a painter.

1852-1855

Attends Exeter College, Oxford,

with the intention of becoming a
clergyman. Meets Edward BurneJones, also a first-year undergraduate. His love of medieval art
and architecture begins while at
college
work in the architectural office of G E
1856 Begins
Street. Meets Phillip Webb and, later that year,
Dante Gabriel Rosetti. Morris abandons his fledgeling career in architecture and becomes an artist.
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. founded.
Founder members include Ford Madox Brown,
Burne-Jones, Rosetti and Webb.

1861

1862-1867
Designs the first of his wallpapers for the Company.
Publishes poetry including The Life and Death of Jason and The Earthly Paradise.

Philip Webb, Adjustable Chair, by Morris,

Marshall, Faulkner
& Co, England, c.
1870-90
A precursor of the
modern adjustable
chair, this is an early
version of what became widely known as
the Morris chair, an
iconic Arts & Crafts
furniture design made
by the firm founded
by William Morris.

Philip Webb, Standen, East Grinstead, Surrey, England, 1891

4. The drawing room of this fine house contains a carpet and
many pieces of furniture to William Morriss designs. The
simple, white- painted paneling is characteristic of Arts and
Crafts design at its best.

LOUIS MAJORELLE (1859-1926)

He began his career in the furniture
making company of his father. He was
copying old style furniture. Under
the influence of Emile Gall , he
oriented his work on new shapes of
furniture and a natural decor often
underlined by fine marquettry. In
1900, he added blacksmith to his activity to realize the handles for the
furniture and also railings or balconies. In 1901, he co-founded the
Ecole de Nancy and became vice president. (Ecole de Nancy is the name of
the Art Nouveau movement in Nancy).
He became soon internationaly famous
and openned in 1910 shops in Paris,
Lille and Lyon.
In 1898, he asked Henri Sauvage to
build his house in Nancy. The first
complete Art Nouveau building in
Nancy.

Louis Majorelle,
desk, mahogany with ormolu
mounts, c. 1900.
Majorelle was
among the most celebrated of the Art
Nouveau designers,
working out of a
modern workshop in
Nancy, France. This
desk has the characteristic fl owing
lines following
Hogarths Line of
Beauty, and
the curvilinear, nature-inspired
ornamentation of
the turn of the century.

In February 1901,
Majorelle became
one of the founding members of the
cole de Nancy,
alternatively known
as the Alliance provinciale des industries dart, which
was a group of
artists, architects, art critics, and industrialists in Lorraine
who decided to work in a collaborative fashion, and predominantly in the Art Nouveau style. They, headed by Gall (until
his death in 1904, and thereafter by Victor Prouv) did this
for several reasons, chief among which was to ensure a high
standard of quality of work in the French decorative arts, of
which Lorraine artists were the chief producers at the time.
Majorelle was one of the vice-presidents of the group from
the outset, remained so throughout the existence of the cole
de Nancy, and was certainly considered one of the groups

leaders. For the most part, he and the other members worked
to promote the work of Lorraine decorative artists through
their advocacy of the establishment of a school for industrial arts, their participation at major exhibitions (as well as
organizing their own shows), and through their collaborative
efforts on individual art pieces and buildings, almost all of
which were in the Art Nouveau style, and which helped produce to some extant a unity among the art and architecture
produced by Lorrainers. Majorelle was consistently one of
the internationally renowned figures of the group who could
always be found at any show at which the group exhibited. His
connections with the Parisian art circles also helped assure
the renown of Lorraine artists in the French capital. The
cole de Nancy, however, was often in short supply of funding, and the formal artistic cooperation among its members
slowly seemed to disintegrate during the First World War.

ANJOLIE ELA MENON

Anjolie Ela Menon was born in
1940 in India of mixed Bengal
and American parentage. She
went to school in Lovedale in
the Nilgiri Hills, Tamil Nadu and
thereafter had a brief spell at
the J.J. School of art in Bombay.
Subsequently she earned a degree of English Literature from
Delhi University. After holding
solo Exhibitions in Bombay and Delhi in the late 1950s as a
teenager, N4enon worked and studied in Paris at the Ecole
des Beaux Arts in 1961-62 on a French Government scholarship. Before returning home, she traveled extensively in Europe and West Asia studying Romanesque and Byzantine art.
Since then she has lived and worked in India, in England, the
U.S.A., Germany and the erstwhile USSR. She had over thirty
solo shows including at Black heath Gallery-London, Gallery
Radicke-Bonn, Winston Gallery-Washington, Doma Khudozhinkov-USSR, Rabindra Bhavanand Shridharani Gallery-New Delhi,
Academy of Fine Arts-Calcutta, the Gallery-Madras, Jehangir Gallery, Chemould Gallery, Taj Gallery, Bombay and Maya
Gallery at the Museum Annexe, Hong Kong. A retrospective
exhibition was held in 1988 in Bombay, Menon has participated
in several international or shows in France, Japan, Russia and
U.S.A.

SGABELLO CHAIR
Maker:Attributed to the Workshop of Giuliano da Maiano (14321490) and Benedetto
da Maiano (14421497)
Date:ca. 148991
Culture:Italian, Florence
Medium:Walnut, maple, ebony; ebonized wood,
and fruitwood; traces of gilding and red paint
Dimensions:H. 58 x W. 16-3/4 x D. 16-1/2 in.
(147.3 x 42.5 x 41.9 cm)
Classification:Woodwork-Furniture
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1930
Accession Number:30.93.2

The Strozzi chair is one of the best-known and most often published
pieces of seating furniture in the world.[1] Shortly after 1900, in
a period when Italian Renaissance furniture was as highly prized as
old-master paintings, Hans Stegmann called it a unicum known the
world over. . . a masterwork of charming beauty, one of the most
beautiful Florentine pieces of furniture around.[2] Given its celebrity, it is astonishing that the most recent publications on the chair
rely on information in the 1930 catalogue of the collection of the
Viennese banker Albert Figdor, who acquired it in the 1870s from
Prince Strozzi in Florence, and ignore later investigations.[3]
The form of the sgabello derives from a low stool with three legs (a
tre gambe) mounted at an angle, a very simple type of seat that had
been popular since ancient times.[4] By adding an elongated backrest, the designer demonstrated unusual sensitivity to shape and
ornament and a degree of subtlety that is rarely found in furniture.
The decoration on the back, sides of the seat, and feet consists of
delicately carved elements and a small line of geometric inlay. The
latter is consciously contrasted with the dramatic veining of the
walnut wood. The elegant concept and the attention given to minute
details indicate that this was a very special commission for all the
artisans involved.
The backrest seems comparable in silhouette to a peacocks feather.
A plain center panel supports the tondo on top, in the eye of which
the Strozzi coat of arms with three crescent moons (arme delle tre
lune) and lavish acanthus decoration stand out against a punched
background. Crowning this is the image of a molting falcon. In the
background, feathers cascade down in a circular movement from the
spread wings of the bird.
The three crescents within a shield can be seen again on the reverse
of the tondo, in front of a fluted sun motif. The encircling band
consists of four rosettes at the cardinal points connected by feathered scales arranged in divergent directions. The whole tondo-front
and back-is framed by a wreath of crescent moons, another allusion to the house of Strozzi.[5] Following Wilhelm von Bode, Frida
Schottmller remarked that the reverse of a medal made for Filippo
di Matteo di Simone Strozzi (14281491), in the manner of Nicco-

l Fiorentino, was used as the model for the front of the tondo.
[6] Other early writers ascribed the medal as well as the design of
the sgabello to the workshop of Giuliano and Benedetto da Maiano.
Both brothers were regularly employed by Strozzi.[7] Documents
show that in 1467 Filippo Strozzi ordered from Giuliano da Maiano
a richly inlaid cassone for himself, as well as a lettuccio, or bench.
[8] The medal, which has now convincingly been attributed to Niccol
Fiorentino (14301514), was probably commissioned for the cornerstone ceremony at the Strozzi Palace, on 6 August 1489.[9] It exists
in multiple copies and could easily have been examined by other artisans.[10]
As a conspicuous display object, embellished on all sides and intended to be freestanding, the sgabello should be interpreted in the
context of the Strozzi Palace. With the crescent moon as a connecting element, it fits seamlessly into the decoration of the building.
The moon motif can be found not only in the biforium windows of the
facade and the famous large iron lanterns but also in the interior,
in the supporting brackets, fireplace frames, and furniture panels.
While it might be too much to say that the presence of such motifs
characterizes a decorative program, the heraldic sickle moons
displayed for everyone to see are an inseparable part of a totality,
of a propaganda project to enhance the grandeur of the aristocratic
owner, Filippo Strozzi (see acc. no. 14.39).[11]
The falcon, Filippos personal emblem, or impresa, on the tondo also
functions as a rebus: the Italian word for falconer is strozziere. A
molting falcon has always been a metaphor for renewal. But what is
meant here is not that all the feathers will be shed and replaced, as
is the case with ducks, for instance, which become incapable of flying
for several weeks and fall easy prey to carnivores. The spread, flawless wings of the swift falcon prove that its plumage renews itself
only partially and that the bird always remains capable of defending itself and of attacking potential enemies. The falcon of Filippos
impresa thus signifies a prepared readiness in the face of trial, a
potential for renewal and for overcoming adversity.
The similarity between the tondo and the medal not only proves that
both must be directly linked to Filippo Strozzi as patron but also
gives a clue to the date of the chair: the execution of the commission
must have taken place between 1489, when the medal was struck and
work on the palace begun, and 15 May 1491, the day of Strozzis
death. Any time after that is highly unlikely, since Strozzis successor would almost certainly have chosen a different decoration, fashioned to represent himself.
A calculated choice, probably, and if so a stroke of genius, are the
three legs, which will correct the chairs position on uneven ground;
they form a firm base for the tondo, underlining the strength, sturdiness, and discipline of the owner, who never gives up hope and
steadfastly supports his family and friends. These virtues had characterized Filippo during his exile from Florence between 1458 and
1466.[12]
The intellectual ferment in fifteenth-century Florence undoubtedly
played a role in the chairs conception. In his treatise De Re Aedificatoria (On the Art of Building) Leonbattista Alberti (14041472)
put forward the revolutionary idea that different types of buildings

should be designed to reflect the requirements of those who live

and work in them. As Martin Kemp has pointed out, some of Albertis immediate successors went still further, maintaining that every
aspect of architecture, from the design of a capital at the top of a
column to the overall plan of a city was to be governed by a rigorously proportional geometry.[13] These ideas could easily be extended to apply to a palace and its furnishings. Another intriguing
reflection in the Strozzi chair of the passionate interest among the
Florentine intellectuals in the ordering of space is the fact that
the octagonal seat reflects the floor plan of the Florentine Baptistery, even to the high altars niche. That protruding space is filled
in the chair by the elongated back, which supports Filippo Strozzis
impresa.[14] The Baptistery was the building that Filippo Brunelleschi
(1377?1446), who had revolutionized painting by working out a
method for accurately reproducing the third dimension on a flat surface, used as the subject of his famous perspectival projections.[15]
The ideas of Alberti and Brunelleschi flowed through the Florentine
artistic community as the money of the Medici bank flowed through
politics. No innovative artist could help but respond to this creative
climate.
The sgabello is not a marvel of comfort, but it was not intended to
be. A display piece, it represents a rare combination of a practical
medieval form and a humanistic Renaissance design. Certainly it is
one of the most unusual pieces of furniture ever made, one in which
meaning and beauty mingle in unrivaled harmony.[16]

Place of origin: Venice, [Italy] (made)

Date: 1580-1600 (made)
Artist/Maker: unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques: Walnut, partly
gilded
Museum number: 7183-1860
Gallery location: Medieval and Renaissance, room 62, case WN, shelf FS
A chair of sgabello form, of walnut, partly
gilded. The octagonal plank seat is carved
centrally with a circular recess and is supported on a solid board support at front
and back, joined by a shaped, rectangular-sectioned stretcher. The front support
is waisted in plan, the top corners round,
the lower corners formed as feet by a recess cut between them. The edges of the
front support are carved with bands of overlapping coin ornament between raised fillets, these bands scrolling together at the top on either side of a grotesque mask set against
a rayed background. The lower ends of the scrolling bands
merge into acanthus ornament above abstracted animal feet,
with further foliage decoration between.the feet. The back
support is cut as a simple board, but with the outline echoing
that of the front. The back is fan-shaped, the carving on its
front face creating the illusion of a T-shaped back support

with a scrolled cresting above, all the front faces carved

with formal motifs. The outer edges of the back are carved
with female term figures, terminating below in acanthus. These
are set diagonally with their heads at the outer edge of the
chair rail and their scrolled lower ends resting on the narrow back edge of the seat. The area between the terms and the
central, vertical band of carving is carved with scrolling vine
leaves.

Sgabello
late 15th century
Object Place: Florence, Italy
DIMENSIONS: Overall: 97.8
x 51.8 x 40.6 cm (38 1/2 x 20
3/8 x 16 in.)
ACCESSION NUMBER :
53.2911
MEDIUM OR TECHNIQUE :
Wood
ON VIEW Italian Renaissance
Gallery (Gallery 206)
COLLECTIONS
Europe
CLASSIFICATIONS
Furniture
Walnut. Octagonal seat inlaid with ivory rosette and four
lozenges of light wood, box-like compartment beneath, heavily
molded. Shaped panels, turned stretcher between, form legs;
front panel carved with acanthus leaves and dentil band
across base. Two circular bosses on front. Flaring back has
three upright molded strips, carved crest with rosettes in
circulars at ends, guilloche band above and low inlaid strip
with GT and DC flanking inlaid eagle. Three turned button-like
finials.

HALL OF MIRRORS
The Grande Galerie (La
Grande Galerie in French),
as it was called in the 17th
century, served daily as a
passageway and a waiting
and meeting place, frequented by courtiers and the visiting public.

The Hall of Mirrors (French: Grande Galerie or Galerie des

Glaces) is the central gallery of the Palace of Versailles in
Versailles, France.
As the principal and most remarkable feature of King Louis
XIV of Frances third building campaign of the Palace of Versailles (16781684), construction of the Hall of Mirrors
began in 1678.To provide for the Hall of Mirrors as well as
the salon de la guerre and the salon de la paix, which connect the grand appartement du roi with the grand appartement
de la reine, architect Jules Hardouin Mansart appropriated
three rooms from each apartment as well as the terrace that
separated the two apartments.
The principal feature of this hall is the seventeen mirror-clad
arches that reflect the seventeen arcaded windows that
overlook the gardens. Each arch contains twenty-one mirrors
with a total complement of 357 used in the decoration of the
galerie des glaces. The arches themselves are fixed between
marble pilasters whose capitals depict the symbols of France.
[citation needed] These gilded bronze capitals include the
fleur-de-lys and the Gallic cockerel or rooster. Many of the
other attributes of the Hall of Mirrors were lost to war for
financial purposes, such as the silver table pieces and guridons, which were melted by order of Louis XIV in 1689 to finance the War of the League of Augsburg

TIFFANY LAMP
Tiffany lamps were originally
made by Louis Comfort Tiffany who was a painter working
in the 19th century. He was
admitted to the National Academy when he was 23 and was
the youngest ever member. He
started working with colored
glass in the 1870s and made
many stained glass windows
for churches, often using
flowers and plants in his designs.
Following on from this he
teamed up with two other artist to found Louis Comfort Tiffany and Associated American
Artists, a company specializing
in glass windows, a prime example of which can be seen in the White House. The company was
dissolved in 1885 and he started the Tiffany Glass Company,
alone this time. This later became the Tiffany Studios which
made Tiffany lamps until the beginning of the 1930s.
When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879 he was
inspired to make glass lampshades, drawing on his experience
with stained glass windows and incorporating the flower and
plant designs he had used for them. He also used the same
methods as he had used for the windows, making paper patterns of the design and using these to cut the glass pieces,
edging the pieces with copper foil and soldering them together to construct the lampshades. He patented the Nautilus
lampshade, a shell shaped design, and included this when he
staged his first exhibition in 1899.

MIES VAN DER ROHE

BRNO CHAIR - FLAT BAR
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 1930
Designed by Mies van der Rohe in
1930 for his renowned Tugendhat House in Brno, Czech Republic, the Brno Chair reflects the
groundbreaking simplicity of its
original environment. The chair,
an icon of 20th-century design,
is celebrated for its lean profile,
clean lines and meticulous attention to detail.

BRNO CHAIR - TUBULAR

BARCELONA CHAIR

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

1929
One of the most recognized
objects of the last century,
and an icon of the modern
movement, the Barcelona Chair
exudes a simple elegance that
epitomizes Mies van der Rohes
most famous maximless is
more. Each Barcelona piece
is a tribute to the marriage of
modern design and exceptional
craftsmanship.

BARCELONA COUCH
Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe 1930
Designed in 1930, the
Barcelona Couch shares
the same simple elegance
as its iconic counterpart,
exhibiting Mies van der Rohes command of line and
material in any medium, from architecture to furniture, which
helped define the modern vocabulary.

BARCELONA STOOL
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
1929
Whether paired with Barcelona Chair or standing alone,
the Barcelona Stool exudes a
simple elegance that epitomizes Mies van der Rohes most
famous maximless is more.
Each Barcelona piece is a tribute to the marriage of modern
design and exceptional craftsmanship.

BARCELONA TABLE
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
1929
The perfect complement to the
Barcelona Chair, Mies Van Der
Rohes chrome and glass table
epitomizes modern design and
simple sophistication.

MR TABLE
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
1927
The MR Collection represents
some of the earliest steel furniture designs by Mies van der
Rohe. Four examples of the MR
side table were included in the
famous Tugendhat house. The
design has been manufactured
by Knoll since 1977.

CURULE, SAVONAROLA AND DANTE SEATS

CURULE SEAT: This furniture form comes in several variationschair, stool,
bench and sometimes
the nomenclature can get
confusing. There are several variations leading to
several names, including
the Savonarola chair and
Dante chair. While the
form may vary slightly,
each variation all share an x-shaped base.
The term curule seat , or sella curulis, is the oldest form
having developed back in Ancient Rome in the 6th century
BC as a perch for the highest dignataries. Curule is said
to have derived from the latin term for chariot, currus.
Its two legs are joined in the middle typically curved in a U
shape and inverted U shape. Sometimes the legs have a wavy X
shape.
So while these three terms, curule, Savonarola and Dante,
are thrown about, confusing the nomenclature, it is the
X-shape leg that is the feature to note

FOLDING STOOL EGYPT

The only complete specimen was found
in 1891 in Guldhj (Golden Hill)
near Kolding on the Jutland peninsula, which forms modern-day mainland Denmark. The chair, made of ash
wood and with an otter-skin seat, was
found lying in a tree-trunk coffin.
Dendrochronologists have dated the
specimen, made by a local carpenter,
to 1389 B.C. When Tutankhamen died,
his tomb was filled with all manner
of precious objects, including two
folding chairs. The more attractive
one is made of ebony and has ivory
inlays.
Such ingenious chairs were already being used in Egypt more
than 4,000 years ago. The brilliantly simple design consists
of two movable wooden frames connected to each other with
pins and with an animal hide stretched between -- a kind of
ur-camping stool.
It isnt surprising, given the advanced nature of their society, that the Egyptians were familiar with such comfortable
seating. Astonishing, however, is that the gruff chieftains of
northern Europe also sat on such chairs.

Harvey Probber (USA, 19222003)

A popular designer
who had his heyday
from the late 1940s
into the 1970s,
Harvey Probber is
one of the post-war
American creative
spirits whose work
has been recently
rediscovered by collectors. His designs
are by-and-large
simple and elegant,
but his signal achievement was to pioneer one of the key innovations of mid-20th century furniture: sectional, or modular,
seating.
Even as a teenager, the Brooklyn-born Probber was making
sketches of furniture designs and selling them to Manhattan furniture companies. He began working as a designer for
an upholsterer once he finished high school and, apart from a
few evening classes he took as an adult at the Pratt Institute,
he was self-taught about design and furniture making. After
wartime service and a stint as a lounge singer Probber
founded his own company in the late 1940s. A lifelong familiarity with the needs of New Yorkapartment dwellers doubtless sparked his most noteworthy creation: a line of seating
pieces in basic geometric shapes wedges, squares, half-circles that could be arranged and combined as needed. Modular furniture remained the core idea of Probbers business
throughout his career.
As a self-trained designer, Probber was never wed to any
particular aesthetic. He preferred simple lines for their inherent practicality, but often used hardware to enliven the look
of his pieces, or added elements such as a ceramic insert
in the center of a round dining table that was visually interesting and could serve as a trivet. He gravitated toward
bright fabrics with attractive, touchable textures that might
be satin-like or nubbly. Above all, Probber insisted that the
products that came out of his Fall River, Massachusetts, factory be built to last. The quality of aging gracefully, Probber once told an interviewer, is designs fourth dimension.

This quality he realized: Probber furniture is just as useful

and alluring now as it was when made and maybe even more
stylish.

windsor chair antique

In 18th-century England, the

chairs were used in the Windsor castle garden. They soon
became popular garden seats
throughout the country and
were often painted green or
simply left to weather. By
the late 1750s, the English
Windsor chair was ubiquitous
indoors as well as outdoors
and would have been used
everywhere from inns and taverns to libraries and meeting
houses.

THOMAS CHIPPENDALE
Thomas Chippendale was born in Otley, Yorkshire, 1718 and
died in London in 1779.
Chippendale was an only child, born into a family of Yorkshire
carpenters. Details of his early career are unknown but in
1748, aged 30, he moved to London where he set up as a cabinet-maker, married and had a large family.
In 1754 he published The Gentleman and Cabinet-Makers Director, a pattern book that was to secure his position as one
of the most eminent cabinet-makers of the 18th century. Chippendales workshop was on St Martins Lane, the newly fashionable centre of the furniture making trade in London. From
there he undertook many large-scale furnishing projects for
grand houses throughout Britain.

DESIGN MODEL
Furniture designs had been occasionally published before
1754, but Chippendales Director was the first publication on
such a large scale. It included designs in the Gothic, Chinese
and Modern Taste the last meaning French Rococo style.
Not all furniture supplied by Chippendale exactly followed
his published designs. Many were simpler pieces for bedrooms
and private spaces. Patrons could also combine Director elements to create bespoke commissions. For Dumfries House in
1759 only 12 of the 50 items ordered came from The Director.
Despite his success, Chippendale never received a significant
royal commission, unlike some of the other cabinet-makers in
St Martins Lane.

Chippendale
FURNITURE

hippendale, various styles of furniture fashionable in the

third quarter of the 18th century and named after the
English cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale. The first style
of furniture in England named after a cabinetmaker rather than a monarch, it became the most famous name in the
history of English furniture at a time when such craftsmanship was at its zenith.

Mahogany ribbonback chairs in the

Rococo style, designed by Thomas
Chippendale, 18th century

The descriptive term Chippendale is derived from a book of

furniture designs, the first of
its kind, that was published in
1754 in London and called The
Gentleman and Cabinet-Makers
Director. The identity of the designers of the patterns in The Director is debatable in some instances, but Thomas Chippendale was clearly responsible for
many of the best designs himself. The book was enthusiastically received, and furniture based on Chippendales designs was
crafted in England, on the European continent, and in the
American Colonies.
Chippendale designs fall into three main styles: Gothic, Rococo (called modern in the pattern book), and Chinese. Chippendale blended these disparate stylistic elements into harmonious and unified designs. The term Chippendale specifically
refers to English furniture of the 1750s and 60s made in a
modified Rococo style.
Gothic Chippendale incorporated pointed arches and ogee
(S-shaped) curves into the backs of chairs and, more successfully, in the glazing bars (wooden tracery holding the glass)
and pediments of massive bookcases.
Rococo Chippendale was to some extent a reaction against the
heavy formality of Baroque furniture design, typified by the
work of William Kent who died in 1748. Many of the Rococo
designs were French in origin, but Chippendale modified some
of them for the less flamboyant English market; among these
are his French chairs, based on Louis XV designs. Probably
the best-known Chippendale design is a broad-seated ribbonback chair, with a back rail in the form of a cupids bow, and
the pierced splat (centre support in the back) composed of
carved interlacing ribbons. The most elaborate Rococo designs, carved and gilded, were those for mirror frames, girandoles, and console tables.

Styles of Chippendale furniture

The Chippendale style is often described as being an anglicised type of Rococo, and Rococo is one of the styles Chippendale encompasses, along with Gothic and Chinese. Rococo
Chippendale furniture often displays French influence, with
chairs based on Louis XV designs, although usually less ostentatious. The ribbonback chair with a broad seat and cupids
bow-style back rail is perhaps the most famous Chippendale
design.
Gothic Chippendale furniture is characterised by s-shaped
curves and pointed arches in the backs of chairs, while Gothic
bookcases were triangular at the top and had wooden glazing
bars to hold the glass in place.
Chinese Chippendale creations often included cabinets and
shelves for china, and typically features pagoda-style pediments and glazing bars arranged in a fretwork design. This
fretwork was also used on the edges of tea tables and on the
backs and legs of chairs, often coated with lacquer.
Modern Chippendale furniture
Chippendale furniture continues to be popular in modern times
as the furnishings are not only attractive and help to create
an upmarket, classic feel in the home, they are also hardwearing and long-lasting. While original furniture from the 1700s
is hard to come by especially in a well-preserved form, you
can invest in replica pieces made from solid mahogany that is
virtually undetectable as a modern equivalent.
Mahogany is a reddish-brown hardwood that is extremely durable and ideal for carving. It resists wood rot and can be
transformed into items of furniture that, with little maintenance, will last for years. Youll find bedside tables, writing
desks and dressing tables among the Chippendale furniture
available, and simply need to wipe the furnishings down with a
damp cloth to remove dust that has settled.
To keep your mahogany Chippendale furniture in good condition, avoid placing it near to sunlight, as this can cause the
woods colour to fade. Similarly, furnishings should not
stand near to radiators or fireplaces.
Avoid placing hot dishes directly on your Chippendale furniture, and use coasters lined underneath with felt, as other
materials may scratch or damage the wood. You can also add
extra shine to your furniture by giving it a regular polish
when the pieces are beginning to look a little dull.

TIME LINE
1837-1901 - PERIOD OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
1850-1914 - ART AND CRAFT MOVEMENT
1880-1910 - ART NOUVOU
1897-1905 - VIENNA SUCCESSION
1907-1935 - DEUTSCHER WERKBUND
1909-1930 - FURURISM
1916-1930 - DADA
1917-1935 - CONSTRUCTIVISM
1917-1931 - DE STIJL
1919-1933 - BAUHAUS
1920-1980 - INTERNATIONAL STYLE
1920-1939 - ART DECO
1945-PRESENT - CONTEMPORARY
1958-1972 - POP
1965-PRESENT - POST MODERN DESIGN
1981-1988 - MEMPHIS

20TH CENTURY

MODERNISM

POST-MODERNISM

ANTONI GAUD
SPANISH ARCHITECT

Antonio Gaud y Cornet (born June

25, 1852, Reus, Spaindied June
10, 1926, Barcelona) Catalan architect, whose distinctive style is
characterized by freedom of form,
voluptuous colour and texture, and
organic unity. Gaud worked almost
entirely in or near Barcelona. Much
of his career was occupied with
the construction of the Expiatory
Temple of the Holy Family (Sagrada
Famlia), which was unfinished at his
death in 1926
Except for certain overt symbols of nature or religion,
Gauds buildings became essentially representations of their
structure and materials. In his Villa Bell Esguard (190002)
and the Gell Park (190014), in Barcelona, and in the Colonia Gell Church (1898c. 1915), south of that city, he
arrived at a type of structure that has come to be called
equilibratedthat is, a structure designed to stand on its
own without internal bracing, external buttressing, and the
likeor, as Gaud observed, as a tree stands. Among the primary elements of his system were piers and columns that tilt
to transmit diagonal thrusts, and thin-shell, laminated tile
vaults that exert very little thrust. Gaud applied his equilibrated system to two multistoried Barcelona apartment buildings: the Casa Batll (190406), a renovation that incorporated new equilibrated elements, notably the facade; and the
Casa Mil (190510), the several floors of which are structured like clusters of tile lily pads with steel-beam veins. As
was so often his practice, he designed the two buildings, in
their shapes and surfaces, as metaphors of the mountainous
and maritime character of Catalonia.

MOST IMPORTANT WORK

Synopsis
Mucha was famous for his commercial posters, which had a
wide audience, but he also worked in a variety of other media,
including furniture, jewelry, and theatrical sets. He mostly
worked in Vienna and Paris, but was also in Chicago, where
he taught at the Art Institute, from 1904 to 1910. There,
he introduced his interpretation of the new art to a United
States audience. The densely patterned posters epitomize the
Art Nouveau interest in natural forms, decoration, and a rejection of the anonymity of mechanical production.

Key Ideas
Women were a common theme in Muchas work (and in Art Nouveau art in general). The femme nouvelle or new woman type
was a favorite subject, since it served both allegorical and
decorative purposes. Indeed, Mucha and his peers celebrated
femininity as the antidote to an overly-industrialized, impersonal, masculine world.
Mucha worked in a variety of media that were accessible to a
wide audience, and so the reach of his art extended beyond
the borders of high art. Everything could be a work of art,
encompassing a persons daily experience, from wallpaper to
furniture to clothing to promotional posters around the city.
Although Mucha is most associated with his Art Nouveau
posters, he spent the latter of half of his career focused
on projects of a nationalist character. Stirred by a pride in
his country and an interest in its artistic traditions, Mucha
sought to celebrate the history and mores of Czech culture.

GUSTAV KLIMT
Gustav Klimt (July 14, 1862 February 6, 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and one of the most
prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. Klimt is noted for
his paintings, murals, sketches, and
other objets dart. Klimts primary
subject was the female body, and his
works are marked by a frank eroticism. In addition to his figurative
works, which include allegories and
portraits, he painted landscapes.
Among the artists of the Vienna
Secession, Klimt was the most influenced by Japanese art and its methods.
Early in his artistic career, he was

a successful painter of architectural decorations in a conventional manner. As he developed a more personal style, his
work was the subject of controversy that culminated when
the paintings he completed around 1900 for the ceiling of
the Great Hall of the University of Vienna were criticized as
pornographic. He subsequently accepted no more public commissions, but achieved a new success with the paintings of his
golden phase, many of which include gold leaf. Klimts work
was an important influence on his younger contemporary Egon
Schiele.

ALVAR AALTO

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (born Feb.

3, 1898, Kuortane, Fin., Russian
Empiredied May 11, 1976, Helsinki, Fin.) Finnish architect, city planner, and furniture designer whose
international reputation rests on a
distinctive blend of modernist refinement, indigenous materials, and
personal expression in form and
detail. His mature style is epitomized
by the Syntsalo, Fin., town hall
group (195052).
Savoy vase, designed in 1936 by Alvar Aalto, reproduced by Iittala, Inc.
Iittala Group

Alvar Aalto Chair 69

artek stool 60

Cantilever easy chair with armrests ARMCHAIR 26 by Artek

design Alvar Aalto, Aino Marsio-Aalto

Alvar Aalto Paimio

Chair by Artek

Alvar Aalto. Stacking

Armchair (model 403).
Manufactured by Oy
Huonekaluja

Alvar Aalto 400 Tank

Chair by Artek

Walter Gropius
Director, 19191928
Walter Gropius wanted his buildings
to stand there, bare, and radiate from
within: modern, geometric, bright. With
this aesthetic understanding of architecture, Gropius founded the Bauhaus
in 1919. The combination of life, craft
and art under one roof became the credo of the art school.
Walter Gropius was the founder of
the Bauhaus and remained committed
to the institution that he invested in
throughout his life. He was a Bauhaus
impresario in the best possible sense,
a combination of speaker and entrepreneur, a visionary manager who aimed to make art a social concern during the postwar upheaval. After his departure as the Bauhauss director,
Gropius recommended his two successors: Hannes Meyer and
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The conservation of the Bauhauss
legacy after its forced closure is another of Gropiuss accomplishments. He was also able to continue his career in exile in America as an avant-garde architect.
F51 Armchair - design Walter
Gropius - Tecta
The Armchair F51, design by Walter Gropius for Tecta, is a reproduction of the armchair that
was used in Gropius office at
the Dessau Bauhaus. The Gropius
Armchair has been widely studied, and is widely known by architects and designers.
Its bold look dominates any environment: the base is in ash (black, white or natural stained)
or solid walnut or solid oak, while the seat is upholstered in
fabric or leather of different colors.
Walter Gropius was a German architect and founder of Bauhaus. Along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, he is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters
of modern architecture.In 1908 Gropius found employment
with the firm of Peter Behrens, one of the first members of
the utilitarian school. His fellow employees at this time included Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Dietrich Marcks.
In 1910 Gropius left the firm of Behrens and together with

fellow employee Adolf Meyer established a practice in Berlin,

where he remained until the onset of World War I. In 1919,
Gropius was appointed the Master the Grand-Ducal Saxon
School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar. It was this academy
which Gropius transformed into the world famous Bauhaus,
attracting a faculty which included Paul Klee, Johannes Itten,
Josef Albers, Herbet Bayer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and Wassily Kandinsky. Students collaborated on the use modern and
innovative materials and mass-produced fittings, often originally intended for industrial settings, to create original
furniture and buildings.With the help of the English architect Maxwell Fry, Gropius was able to get out of Germany in
1934, on the pretext of making a temporary visit to Britain.
Thus he escaped the rising antisemitism in Germany. He lived
and worked in Britain, as part of the Isokon group with Fry
and others until moving to the United States in 1937.Made in
Germany by Tecta.
A licensed reproduction.
Dimensions:
w. 70x d.70 x h.70 | hs. 42 cm

The F51 sofa, design by Walter Gropius for Tecta, is a reproduction of the sofa that was used in Gropius office at the
Dessau Bauhaus. This sofa, alongside the armchair designed
by Gropius, has been widely studied, and is widely known by
architects and designers.
Dimensions:
w. 140 x d.70 x h.70 | hs. 42 cm
w. 215 x d.70 x h.70 | hs. 42 cm

B 3, WASSILY

MARCEL BREUER
Design: 1925
Production: 1926 - 7
Manufacturer: Standard Mbel
Lengyel & Co., Berlin
Size: 72.5 x 76.5 x 69.5; seat
height 43 cms
Material: cold bent, nickel-plated tubular steel; polished-yarn
fabric
Steel tubing was first used for
hospital furniture as of about
1890, for car seats by Czech manufacturer Tatra starting in 1919,
and for airplane seats in the Fokker plants as of 1924. It was
first introduced to home furnishings with Breuers steel club
armchair, which marked an aesthetic turning point in furniture
production as well as the start of an important branch of
industry. Although the chair was not a direct product of the
Bauhaus workshops, its history is a perfect example of the
spirit underlying this influential institution. For Bauhaus followers, industrial production was the most modern means of
design,1 as Walter Gropius, the founder of Bauhaus, wrote
in 1923 and thus its economic and aesthetic model. The
choice of material and construction clearly place B 3 in an
industrial context that Breuer expected would lend living a
more functional aspect: This metal furniture is to be nothing
more than a necessary device for modern-day living.2
Breuers enthusiasm with the stability of his newly procured
Adler bicycle gave him the idea of using tubular steel to
make furniture. At that time, he was the director of the Bauhaus wood workshop in Dessau. He first turned to the bicycle manufacturer in 1925 in the hope of realizing his idea.
However, Adler was not interested in furniture production.
He then commissioned Mannesmann, the company which had
developed the seamless cold-draw process for tubular steel
in 18856, to bend the necessary components into the proper
shape. Subsequently, he employed the services of a plumber
and collaborated with him in building the first prototypes. In
the same year perhaps a historical coincidence Le Corbusier presented a staircase made of tubular steel in the Pavillon
de IEsprit Nouveau in Paris, a staircase that was built like
a bicycle frame.3 The most important innovation of Breuers
design lay in reducing the basic design of a heavy club armchair to a light frame made of welded steel tubes. The B 3
also reveals the influence that Gerrit Rietvelds furniture
had on Marcel Breuers Bauhaus designs, as the position of
the seat and backrest clearly evokes Rietvelds Roodblauwe
stoel. To a far greater extent than with wood structures, the

reflective nickel-plated surfaces of the steel tubes rendered

the construction transparent, an effect further enhanced
by reducing the surfaces to thin lengths of fabric. Breuers
ideal, which he formulated in a film from 1926, was to make
sitters think they were sitting on springy columns of air.4
The taut material prevents the user from coming in contact
with the cold steel parts of the complex frame, and, in addition, forms an appealing contrast to the metal. In deciding
upon the upholstery, which was to mirror the shine of the tubular steel, Breuer first considered a horsehair weave, which
proved to be too expensive and too complicated to work with.
Furthermore, he discovered that it was unstable, as the loops
around the steel tubes broke easily. Finally, socalled Eisengarn was developed in keeping with Breuers concept. This
material was used in many subsequent designs, such as the B
35. In what is presumably the first version, known only from
a photograph, the welded frame of the tubular steel chair
had four separate legs and the backrest was shaped like an
upright U. The next version was sold as the B 3 by Standard
Mbel, a company founded by Breuer, Klmn Lengyel, and
Anton Lorenz in 1926 to market Breuers designs. The first
B 3 consisted of nine separate welded parts. The seat and
back were separate units in a frame consisting of an endless
loop of tubular steel, in which both pairs of legs were joined
together to form parallel runners that served as the base.
Breuer had most likely discovered this motif in the nearby
Junker airplane factory, where the runners of the worktables enabled them to be pushed aside more easily. Standard
Mbel then made additional changes to the design: to start,
the components of the construction were no longer welded,
but instead were held together with screws, nuts, and slotin connectors. The back was no longer made of a U-shaped
tube, but was now constructed of two separate L-shaped side
pieces attached to the seat with screws. When taken apart,
more than fifty chairs can be stored in a crate measuring just
one cubic meter, even more than Thonets legendary model
No.14. In a later stage of development, the back was stabilized by bringing together the side pieces to form an arch at
the top. In 1929 Standard Mbel was bought byThonet, which
kept B 3 in its program for only two years, but during that
time made even further changes: both runners were braced
with a straight crossstrut, and instead of the connector located in front of the seat, which interfered with the sitters
legs, a bent cross strut that ran under the upholstery was
used to strengthen the seat frame. In 1962 production was
relaunched by the Italian company Gavina, which was later
acquired by Knoll. In honor of Bauhaus master Wassily Kandinsky, who from early on had called attention to the revolutionary aesthetics of the chair, Gavina dubbed it Wassily,
as it is popularly known today. Initially B 3 only caught
the admiring attention of architects, designers, artists, and
visitors at the Bauhaus in Dessau, where it stood in a num-

ber of homes in the masters settlement. At Breuers 1926

solo exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Dresden, the chair was
already being acclaimed as a masterpiece. Breuers fascination
for space-saving collapsible furniture also led him to design
a folding version of the B 3 in 1926, and he obtained the
German patent for both models in 1927. Along with the tubular steel furniture that had meanwhile been produced by Mart
Stam, Mies van der Rohe, and others, Breuer presented his
chair at the prestigious exhibit Die Wohnung (the apartment)
in Stuttgart. For the first time, industry and the public at
large were able to feast their eyes on the B 3. People quickly learned to appreciate tubular steel furniture due to its
lightness, hygienic qualities, and resistance to wear-and-tear.
In the thirties, it even became a fashion in its own right, and
today is the epitome of the spirit of Modernity in the first half
of the twentieth-century.

MARCEL DUCHAMP
FOUNTAIN (DUCHAMP)
Fountain is one of Duchamps
most famous works and is
widely seen as an icon of
twentieth-century art. The
original, which is lost, consisted of a standard urinal,
usually presented on its back
for exhibition purposes rather
than upright, and was signed
and dated R. Mutt 1917.
Tates work is a 1964 replica and is made from glazed
earthenware painted to resemble the original porcelain. The
signature is reproduced in black paint. Fountain has been
seen as a quintessential example, along with Duchamps Bottle Rack 1914, of what he called a readymade, an ordinary
manufactured object designated by the artist as a work of art
(and, in Duchamps case, interpreted in some way).

Bulls Head, 1942 by Pablo Picasso

Theres a remarkable moment
about three-quarters of the way
through Picasso: Masterpieces
From the Muse Nationale Picasso, Paris, now at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. (After it closes on May 15, the show travels
to San Franciscos de Young Museum.)
The revelation comes in a gallery with
work Picasso did during World War II.
Long gone is the joie de vivre of earlier
decadesthe colorful paintings of sunlit
beach scenes with frolicking bathers, and
ever- available women. This is Picassos
bleakest period. His palette is restricted
to browns, grays and blacks, pictorial
space is sharply constricted, with figures and objects often
literally boxed in, forms are painfully contorted, and themes
of mortality preoccupy him, most powerfully in Deaths Head
(1943), a bronze sculpture of a pitted, scabrous skull.
In the course of furniture design history, there are pieces that stand the test
of time, becoming so familiar that they
are instantaneously recognizable. One
such design is the Bauhaus Nesting Tables Set, also called Albers Nesting Tables after their designer. Josef Albers
designed this set of accent tables while
serving as artistic director of the furniture workshop at Bauhaus (School) Weimar in 1926-27. These minimalist tables
are a study in modern design, crafted of
solid oak and lacquered acrylic glass.
As an artist with a passion for color,
Albers gave each of his nesting tables a different distinctive
color.
From every angle, Joseph Albers nesting tables are exquisite
in their simplicity, continually reminding us of the far reaching
modern design influences of the Bauhaus and those associated with it. Please enjoy this exploration of Bauhaus Nesting
Tables from many points of view
Contrary to the popular conception of Bauhaus furniture as
neutrally-toned tubular steel, Bauhaus designers often integrated color into their furniture. Carrying over principles of
color theory taught in the preliminary course, Bauhaus designers created functional designs that can also be seen as

abstract compositions in three dimensions. Best known for his

geometric paintings, many of which are featured in the Museums collection, Josef Albers applied the same precision and
logic to furniture while director of the Bauhaus workshop.
These versatile tables are designed to work independently
and interdependently. Set of 4.
Pale Green: 24.75H x 23.75W x 15.75D
Yellow: 21.75H x 21.25W x 15.75D
Orange: 18.75H x 18.9W x 15.75D
Blue: 15.75H x 16.5W x 15.75D

LE CORBUSIER, CHARLOTTE PERRIAND AND

PIERRE JEANNERE
LC4 CHAISE LOUNGE CHAIR
LC4 CHAISE LOUNGE (1928)
Devoid of superfluous ornamentation, the
simple shape of the LC4 leaves no doubt as
to the function of its form.

LE CORBUSIER
SWITZERLAND (1887
1965)

Widely considered one of the

most influential architects of
the 20th century, Le Corbusier
(born Charles-douard Jeanneret-Gris) is credited with changing the face of urban architecture, bringing it into the technological age. Connecting architecture with revolution, his legacy demonstrates a strong,
if utopian, sense of purpose to meet the needs of a democratic
society dominated by the machine. Modern life demands, and
is waiting for, a new kind of plan, both for the house and the
city, he said in 1923.
CHARLOTTE PERRIAND
FRANCE (19031999)
In 1927, at the age of 24, Charlotte Perriand designed a
rooftop bar for the Salon dAutomne that drew the attention of Le Corbusier. Upon seeing the anodized aluminum and
chromed steel furniture that Perriand had designed for the
bar, the famed Corbusier invited Perriand to join the Le Corbusier studio.
For the next 10 years, Perriand participated in the designs issued from the Le Corbusier studio, including the first tubular
steel designs for systematized furnishings known as Equipement intrieur de lhabitation (19281929). Hard-edged

and severely functional, the collection reflected strict ideas about moral and physical fitness. The best known of this
group is the LC4 Chaise Longue. Perriand also collaborated
with Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret in the design of the LC2 and LC3 Collections (1928), which epitomize
the International Style.
PIERRE JEANNERET
SWITZERLAND (18961967)
It is the fate of history that architect and furniture designer
Pierre Jeanneret will be best remembered for his collaborations with his famous cousin, Charles-douard Jeanneret-Gris
(aka, Le Corbusier). The two began their partnership in 1922
with the Villa Besnus outside Paris. This famous familial duo
went on to create some of the most esteemed icons of midcentury modernism, including the Villa Savoye in Poissy, France,
and the Grand Modele seating collectioN

LC2 PETIT MODELE ARMCHAIR

LC2 PETIT MODELE ARMCHAIR
(1928)
A modern response to the traditional club chair, this cushion basket is a study in elegant minimalism

LC1 SLING CHAIR (1928)

This chair pairs the purity
of simple tubular steel
with the sensual warmth
of natural hide.

bibliography
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Furniture/Furniture.htm
http://www.furniturestyles.net/ancient/greek/
- greek furniture
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/the-history-of-gothic-furniture
Gothic furniture
http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/baroque-architects.htm
https://www.wikiart.org/en/michelangelo/designfor-a-statue-of-henry-ii-of-france?utm_source=returned&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=referral
https://www.architecture.com/Explore/ExhibitionsandEvents/Mackintosh/Explore/Biography.aspx
http://www.gsa.ac.uk/visit-gsa/mackintosh-building-tours/charles-rennie-mackintosh/
https://ourcomeniusproject.files.wordpress.
com/2012/08/charles-rennie-mackintosh.pdf
http://www.technologystudent.com/joints/charles4.
html
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/b/biography-of-william-morris/
http://www.art-nouveau-around-the-world.org/en/
artistes/majorelle.htm

ABOUT THIS BOOK

THIS BOOK COVERS ALL THE INTERIOR DESIGN
RELATED PROGRESS TILL THE ART AND CRAFT
PERIOD . IT ALSO CONTAINS INFO ON SOME OF
THE PROMINENT DESIGNERS AND THERE ACHEIVEMENTS

FOR WHOME THE BOOK IS

IDEAL FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN HISTORY OF
DESIGN AND FURNITURE AS IT CONTAINS DETAILED
ACCOUNT OF FURNITURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN
THROUGH THE AGES

THIS BOOK IS A COPYRIGHT DOCUMENT BY AR.

VIKRAM ARORA ALL RIGHT RESERVED