5. Aalto was influenced by his friend the Swedish architect Erik Gunnar Asplund, who in 1925 had designed an easy chair—the Senna Chair—with a shell-like seat and back of leather stretched on carved walnut.
6. When the Saarinen-Eames chair was finally put into production (in 2004), the price of the reading chair exceeded $2,000.
7. Today, Eames shell chairs are also made of injection-molded polypropylene.
8. This explains why today the Cesca costs more than twice as much as an Eames shell chair.
9. Great Dane
1. Twisted paper reinforced with wire was developed in the early 1900s in the United States to manufacture wicker furniture. Unreinforced paper cord, stronger and longer-lasting than bulrush, was used by so many Danish furniture makers in the 1940s and ’50s that it is often referred to as “Danish cord.”
2. Wegner did not name his chairs. The names came either from manufacturers or from the media. The Peacock Chair was named by the furniture maker Finn Juhl.
3. Wegner’s three-shell chair anticipated the Eames lounge chair by seven years.
10. Fold and Knockdown, Swing and Roll
1. The traditional Chinese character jiao, which means cross or exchange, includes a pictogram with crossed legs that resembles the X-frame of a folding chair.
2. The French called the deck chair transat, a shortening of chaise transatlantique.
3. All IKEA products are given names. Chairs have men’s names, outdoor furniture is named after Swedish islands, dining sets are named after Finnish islands, and so on.
11. Human Engineering
1. Archie Bunker, the character in the popular television series All in the Family, did not sit in a recliner, but in a worn wing chair.
2. This was not the first application of plastic mesh in a chair. As early as 1966, Richard Schultz designed a line of outdoor furniture—side chair, lounge chair, chaise longue—using vinyl-coated polyester mesh stretched on cast and extruded aluminum frames.
3. Trumpeting recyclability is a major part of marketing office task chairs, which is odd given that a well-made chair will last for generations.
4. This expression, which Diffrient quoted approvingly in his autobiography, originated with Alec Issigonis, the British automobile engineer who designed the Mini.
12. Our Time
1. In 1984, Niels Diffrient, who once said, “The best chair is a bed,” unveiled a horizontal workstation that consisted of a reclining chair and ottoman somewhat awkwardly combined with an IBM PC. He was three decades ahead of his time.
2. Over the years, Knoll acquired the rights to many Mies and Breuer chairs.
3. More than 8 million 40/4 chairs have been sold since its debut. In 1981, 40/4s filled Westminster Cathedral for Princess Diana’s wedding.
4. The British Polyprop Chair, which appeared in 1963, was the first chair made of injected polypropylene, although only the one-piece seat and back was plastic; the legs were metal.
5. The stylish wood-and-metal folding bistro chair is another nineteenth-century chair that has endured—it was patented in 1889.
NOTES ON SOURCES
1. A Tool for Sitting
A detailed description of François Boucher’s Le déjeuner is contained in What Great Paintings Say: Volume 2 (Taschen, 2003) by Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen. George Kubler’s penetrating study is The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things (Yale University Press, 1962). Christopher Alexander’s observation on furniture is from A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Oxford University Press, 1977).
2. If You Sit on It, Can It Still Be Art?
Jean-François Oeben’s mechanical dressing table is discussed by André Boutemy in “Les Table-Coiffeuses de Jean-François Oeben,” Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire de l’art français (1962). Details of Émilie du Châtelet and Voltaire’s life at Cirey are vividly described by Nancy Mitford in Voltaire in Love (E. P. Dutton, 1985). Françoise de Graffigny’s description of Madame du Châtelet’s rooms is from Françoise de Graffigny: Choix de Lettres, English Showalter, ed. (Voltaire Foundation, 2001). Showalter’s “Graffigny at Cirey: A Fraud Exposed,” French Forum 21 (January 1996), is also revealing. John Summerson’s wise observation on ornament is from “The Mischievous Analogy” in Heavenly Mansions: And Other Essays on Architecture (W. W. Norton, 1963). I first explored the subject of ornament in “Homo Ornarens,” an essay in Designed for Delight: Alternative Aspects of Twentieth-Century Decorative Arts, Martin Eidelberg, ed. (Flammarion, 1997), which accompanied an exhibition at Montreal’s Musée des arts décoratifs. I wrote about John Dunnigan’s furniture in the Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times (May 5, 1991). Quotes from Dunnigan are based on personal conversations and are also drawn from John Dunnigan Furniture Maker (Peter Joseph Gallery, 1991), an interview with Dunnigan in Bebe Pritam Johnson and Warren Eames Johnson’s Speaking of Furniture: Conversations with 14 American Masters (Artist Book Foundation, 2013), and Dunnigan’s essay in Under Cover: Some Thoughts on Upholstered Furniture, an exhibition catalogue (Gallery NAGA, Boston, 2005).
3. Sitting Up
Gordon W. Hewes’s classic study “The Anthropology of Posture” appeared in Scientific American (February 1957) and was originally published as “World Distribution of Certain Postural Habits” in American Anthropologist, vol. 2, no. 1, part 1 (April 1955). G.M.A. Richter’s authoritative The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans (Phaidon Press, 1966) provides much useful information. The Bernard Rudofsky quote is from Behind the Picture Window (Oxford University Press, 1955). The Chinese adoption of the chair is described in several scholarly works: C. P. FitzGerald’s Barbarian Beds: The Origin of the Chair in China (Cresset Press, 1965); Sarah Handler’s Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture (University of California Press, 2001); and George N. Kates’s pioneering Chinese Household Furniture (Harper & Brothers, 1948). The French diplomat’s 1795 visit to Peking is quoted by Fernand Braudel in The Structures of Everyday Life: The Limits of the Possible, Siân Reynolds, trans. (Harper & Row, 1981), which is also the source of the other Braudel quotes. Nicolas Andry’s Orthopaedia (J. B. Lippincott, 1961) is a facsimile edition of the first English translation, which was published in London in 1743, two years after it appeared in Paris. Ellen Davis Kelly’s observation on posture is from Teaching Posture and Body Mechanics (Ronald Press, 1949). The research of Drs. Staffel and Strasser is discussed by Edward H. Bradford and Robert W. Lovett in Treatise on Orthopedic Surgery (William Wood, 1899). Bengt Åkerblom documents his research in Standing and Sitting Posture, with Special Reference to the Construction of Chairs, Ann Synge, trans. (A.B. Nordiska Bokhandlen, 1948). Paul Branton’s evocative description of the dynamics of sitting is from The Comfort of Easy Chairs (Furniture Industry Research Association, 1966).
4. A Chair on the Side
Cycladic sculpture is discussed by Pat Getz-Preziosi in Early Cycladic Sculpture: An Introduction (J. Paul Getty Museum, 1994) and by Joan R. Mertins in “Some Long Thoughts on Early Cycladic Sculpture,” Metropolitan Museum Journal 33 (1998). I gleaned information on Roman chairs from G.M.A. Richter’s The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans and Roger B. Ulrich’s Roman Woodworking (Yale University Press, 2007). The seating arrangement of the trial of Jean II, Duke of Alençon, is detailed in S. H. Cuttler, “A Report to Sir John Fastolf on the Trial of Jean, Duke of Alençon,” The English Historical Review, vol. 96, no. 381 (October 1981). The Braudel quote is from The Structures of Everyday Life. Seventeenth-century chairs are discussed by John Gloag in The Englishman’s Chair: Origins, Design, and Social History of Seat Furniture in England (George Allen & Unwin, 1964), which remains a useful reference. Vincent Scully’s vivid description of the cabriole chair is from New World Visions of Household Gods & Sacred Places: American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1650–1914 (Little, Brown, 1988).
5. A Golden Age
I came across the Ham House “sleeping chayres” in The
English Chair: Its History and Evolution (M. Harris & Sons, 1937), and they are also described by John Gloag in A Social History of Furniture Design: From B.C. 1300 to A.D. 1960 (Bonanza Books, 1966). I have referred to A. Hepplewhite & Co., The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterers Guide (I. & J. Taylor, 1794), and Thomas Chippendale, The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Director (1754). Christopher Gilbert’s exemplary biography, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale (Studio Vista, 1978), is a useful source. The story of Chippendale’s smuggling is recounted by Edward T. Joy in “Chippendale in Trouble at the Customs,” Country Life 110 (August 24, 1951). I leaned heavily on Bill G. B. Pallot’s first-rate The Art of the Chair in Eighteenth-Century France (ACR-Gismondi Editeurs, 1989), and also drew on Charles Saumarez Smith’s Eighteenth-Century Decoration: Design and the Domestic Interior in England (Harry N. Abrams, 1993) and John Whitehead’s The French Interior: In the Eighteenth Century (Dutton Studio Books, 1992). The Peter Thornton quote is from his penetrating study, Authentic Decor: The Domestic Interior, 1620–1920 (Viking, 1984).
6. Sack-backs and Rockers
Luke Vincent Lockwood’s Colonial Furniture in America (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1921) is a valuable reference to the period. The Richard L. Bushman quote is from The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities (Alfred A. Knopf, 1992). For a description of the furniture at Mount Vernon see Helen Maggs Fede’s detailed Washington Furniture at Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union, 1966), Margaret Van Cott’s “Thomas Burling of New York City, Exponent of the New Republic Style,” Furniture History 37 (2001), and Allan Greenberg’s George Washington, Architect (Andreas Papadakis, 1999). I also consulted Thomas H. Ormsbee’s The Windsor Chair (Hearthside Press, 1962) and Nancy Goyne Evans’s exhaustive American Windsor Furniture: Specialized Forms (Hudson Hills Press, 1997). The Philip Schaff quote is from America: Its Political, Social and Religious Character (Harvard University Press, 1961; originally published in 1854).
7. The Henry Ford of Chairs
Christopher Wilk’s Thonet: 150 Years of Furniture (Barron’s, 1980) is essential reading. Thonet Bentwood & Other Furniture: The 1904 Illustrated Catalog (Dover Publications, 1980) is a useful source of information on various Thonet products. I also consulted Alexander von Vegesack’s Thonet: Classic Furniture in Bent Wood and Tubular Steel (Rizzoli, 1996), Hans H. Buchwald’s Form from Process: The Thonet Chair, an exhibition catalogue (Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, 1967), and Eve B. Ottillinger’s Gebrüder Thonet: Möbel aus gebogenem Holz (Böhlau Verlag, 2003).
8. By Design
The Vitra Design Museum’s quote on the Wassily Chair is from its website’s “100 Masterpieces.” The Museum of Modern Art quote is from Barry Bergdoll and Leah Dickerson’s Bauhaus, 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity (Museum of Modern Art, 2009). Philip Johnson described his Barcelona Chairs in “The Seven Crutches of Modern Architecture” in Writings (Oxford University Press, 1979). My old professor Peter Collins’s observation on the Rietveld chair is from “Furniture Givers as Form Givers: Is Design an All-Encompassing Skill?” Progressive Architecture (March 1963). For information on Marcel Breuer’s furniture, I consulted Christopher Wilk’s Marcel Breuer: Furniture and Interiors (Museum of Modern Art, 1981) and Modernism: Designing a New World, Christopher Wilk, ed. (V & A Publications, 2006). The best single source on Alvar Aalto’s chairs is Alvar Aalto Furniture, Juhani Pallasmaa, ed. (MIT Press, 1984). Aalto’s sanatorium furniture is discussed in “The Paimio Interiors” by Kaarina Mikonranta in Alvar Aalto Architect, Volume 5, Paimio Sanatorium, 1929–33 (Alvar Aalto Foundation, 2014). The Architectural Review quote is from “Standard Wooden Furniture at the Finnish Exhibition,” Architectural Review 74 (December 1, 1933). Saarinen and Eames’s collaboration at Cranbrook is described by R. Craig Miller in “Interior Design and Furniture” in Design in America: The Cranbrook Vision 1925–1950 (Harry N. Abrams, 1984). Information on the Eames molded plywood chairs is from Christopher Wilk’s “Furnishing the Future: Bent Mood and Metal Furniture, 1925–46” in Bent Wood and Metal Furniture: 1850–1946, Derek E. Ostergard, ed. (University of Washington Press, 1987). I also depended on Pat Kirkham’s Charles and Ray Eames: Designers of the Twentieth Century (MIT Press, 1995). The long quote by Charles Eames about the plywood shell chair is from John Neuhart, Marilyn Neuhart, and Ray Eames, Eames Design: The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames (Harry N. Abrams, 1989).
9. Great Dane
Wegner’s obituary, “Hans Wegner Dies at 92; Danish Furniture Designer,” appeared in The New York Times (February 6, 2007). The chief source of the Wegner quotes is a comprehensive book on his life and work published on the occasion of the centenary of his birth: Christian Holmsted Olesen’s Wegner: Just One Good Chair, Mark Mussari, trans. (Hatje Cantz, 2014). Another useful source is Jens Bernsen’s short monograph Hans J. Wegner (Danish Design Center, 2001). David Pye’s The Nature and Art of Workmanship (Cambium Press, 1968) is an exceptional meditation on the subject. The first American coverage of Danish Modern furniture was “Danish Furniture: Old Hands Give Shape to New Ideas,” Interiors (February 1950). The Danish Modern movement is described in Per H. Hansen’s “The Construction of a Brand: The Case of Danish Design, 1930–1970” (unpublished paper, EBHA-Conference, Barcelona, September 2004), Andrew Hollingsworth’s Danish Modern (Gibbs Smith, 2008), and Contemporary Danish Design, Arne Karlsen et al., eds. (Danish Society of Arts and Crafts and Industrial Design, 1960). The 1960 Metropolitan Museum show was reviewed by Sanka Knox, “Long-Awaited Museum Show Opens,” The New York Times (October 15, 1960).
10. Fold and Knockdown, Swing and Roll
Information on the Chinese folding chair is from Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture. Nicholas A. Brawer’s British Campaign Furniture: Elegance Under Canvas, 1740–1914 (Harry N. Abrams, 2001) is essential reading on the subject. The IKEA quote is from Lauren Collins, “House Perfect” (The New Yorker, October 3, 2011). Although I don’t agree with all of Galen Cranz’s conclusions, The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design (W. W. Norton, 1998) is a rare example of a scholarly treatment of the subject. The quote about Indian jhoolas is from Kusum Choppra’s Beyond Diamond Rings (Pustak Mahal, 2010). Eighteenth-century swings are discussed by Donald Posner in “The Swinging Women of Watteau and Fragonard,” The Art Bulletin, vol. 64, no. 1 (March 1982). The description of Oeben’s mechanical chair is included in Rosemarie Stratmann’s “Design and Mechanisms in the Furniture of Jean-François Oeben,” Furniture History 9 (1973). The description of Grollier’s wheelchair is from Gaspard Grollier de Servière, Recueil d’ouvrages curieux de mathématique et mécanique, ou description du cabinet de monsieur Grollier de Servière (C. A. Jombert, 1751). Merlin and his inventions are described in John Joseph Merlin: The Ingenious Mechanick (Greater London Council, 1985).
11. Human Engineering
The prewar saga of Anton Lorenz and the cantilever chair is described in detail by Otakar Máčel in “Avant-Garde Design and the Law: Litigation over the Cantilever Chair,” Journal of Design History, vol. 3, nos. 2/3 (1990), and in Christopher Wilk’s Marcel Breuer: Furniture and Interiors. Lorenz’s later work in America on the recliner has received less attention, and I am indebted to Edward Tenner’s Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology (Alfred A. Knopf, 2003). The origin of the Aeron Chair is recounted by Cliff Kuang in “The Secret History of the Aeron Chair,” Slate (posted November 5, 2012). Seth Stevenson’s comments on the limitations of the adjustable task chair are from “A Search for the Best Desk Chair,” Slate (posted December 6, 2005). Diffrient’s observation about the limitations of ergonomic chairs is from an interview with Martin C. Pedersen, “Niels Diffrient: A Tribute in Conversation,” Metropolis (posted June 17, 2013). The Humanscale manual quoted is Niels Diffrient, Alvin R. Tilley, and Joan C. Bardagly, Humanscale 1/2/3: Sizes of People, Seating Considerations, Requirements for the Handicapped and Elderly (MIT Press, 1974). Diffrient’s autobiography, Confessions of a Generalist (
Generalist Ink, 2012), contains much useful information about furniture design and is a revealing window into the mind of the noted industrial designer. The Diffrient quote about working with Saarinen is contained in Jayne Merkel’s Eero Saarinen (Phaidon Press, 2005). The Diffrient observation about airplane seats is from “Objective Performance, Comfort Indicators and Compromises” in Chair: The Current State of the Art, with the How, the Why, and the What of It, Peter Bradford and Barbara Prete, eds. (Thomas Y. Crowell, 1978). Diffrient’s explanation of his method of designing chairs is from a video interview on the Humanscale website. Diffrient’s comment about the insoluble problem of the chair is from his “Objective Performance, Comfort Indicators and Compromises.” The Canadian study of sitting ailments is P. T. Katzmarzyk et al., “Sitting Time and Mortality from All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer,” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, vol. 41, no. 5 (May 2009); the Australian study is Hidde P. van der Plogge et al., “Sitting Time and All-Cause Mortality Risk in 222,497 Australian Adults,” Archives of Internal Medicine (March 26, 2012). Mary Plumb Blade is quoted from “Physical Forces and Damages, Your Sitting Behavior, Move” in Chair. Florence Knoll and Eero Saarinen’s comments about the Womb Chair are contained in Brian Lutz’s “Furniture, Form and Innovation” in Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen and Donald Albrecht, eds. (Yale University Press, 2006). Vladimir Nabokov’s description of his writing day is from a Playboy interview (January 1964).
12. Our Time
Now I Sit Me Down Page 19