The Eileen Gray Exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)

The Eileen Gray Exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA)

A portrait of Eileen Gray in Paris in 1926.

Kathleen Eileen Moray Gray (1878-1976); Architect, Designer and Painter

‘To create, one must first question everything’

-           Eileen Gray

 

I visited the Eileen Gray Exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) on Saturday; an exciting exhibition on the life and work of one of the most fascinating and significant figures of European modernism.  I had never visited the museum before, I am ashamed to admit. It was a lovely walk along the Liffey in Dublin City Centre to the Royal Hospital Kilmainham between Heuston Station and St. James’ Hospital. The exhibition is a retrospective of the work of one of the most celebrated and influential designers and architects of the 20^th century and leading member of the modern movement. This Eileen Gray exhibition is  the first exhibition in IMMA’s main building since extensive renovation work, completed during the summer 2013. Eileen Gray was an innovative, prolific and revolutionary artist and one that was way ahead of her time. Her designs and interior decorative schemes are highly functional, every object in a room, every piece of furniture wasn’t purely decorative but had a function, a concept that was never really the focus of interior design until the 20th century. She was a superb designer and architect who was deeply commitment to craft and to technique. Her taste and design abilities impressed everyone who experienced it. She was highly in demand as a designer and her clients included music stars, French aristocracy and a fabulously wealthy Indian maharaja resident in Paris.

Eileen Gray was born near Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, spent most of her childhood between Ireland and London. Her father, an amateur artist, saw her interest in art from an early and frequently took her on painting trips around Europe. In 1898 when she was 20 years old, Gray studied at the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art in University College London. She was among the first women to be admitted to Slade. In 1900 she moved to Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi in Paris, France until 1905. She spent a huge part of her life living in France and became part of the artistic milieu of Paris. It was during this period that Gray studied lacquer work under Seizo Sugawara, a Japanese immigrant and lacquer work restorer working at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Gray’s interest in Japanese lacquer techniques was a major part of her career. In the 1920’s she moved from lacquer work to a more modest functional style. She was attracted to modest materials for her furniture designs like chrome, leather and cork.

Gray became a furniture designer in 1917 when she was commissioned by milliner and boutique owner Mathieu Lévy to redecorate her apartment in Rue de Lota. She quickly established herself as one of the leading designers of the lacquered screens and decorative panels so beloved of the followers of art deco movement. She is widely recognised as a major pioneer of modern furniture design of the 20th century. In 1922 she opened her own gallery, Jean Désert, in Rue du Fauborg Saint Honoré as an outlet for her designs. During the 1920s and 1930s, she became one of the leading exponents of the revolutionary new theories of design and construction. She worked closely with many of the outstanding figures of the modern movement, including Le Corbusier and J.J.P Oud. Her interior designs schemes of the period seem both modern and stylish even today. Examples of her early work are in the V&A collection. She began to experiment with architecture in the late 1920’s and some of her most notable projects include: Rue de Lota, Paris (1917-1921), E 1027 Villa, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (1926-1929), Tempe à Pailla (1932-34) and Ellipse House (prefabricated temporary structure) 1936 and Lou Pérou, near Saint-Tropez, 1954. The exhibition at IMMAwas comprised of a collection of drawings, paintings of features of interior decorating and architecture, Lacquer work like screens, several of her carpet and furniture designs, photography and architectural models of her houses she designed during her prolific career. Eileen Gray died in her apartment on rue Bonaparte in Paris in 1976.

Eileen Gray, Transat Armchair.

Modernist Cork Screen, Eileen Gray.

examples of furniture designed by Eileen Gray: image taken from the IMMA exhibition. 

Christie’s

Lot 32 / Sale 2651

SIX-PANEL SCREEN, CIRCA 1922-25

Description:

lacquered, incised and painted wood each panel: 78½ in. (200 cm.) high, 17 in. (43.2 cm.) wide, 1/2 in. (1.3 cm.) deep

Estimate:  $1,500,000 - $2,500,000

Price Realized: $1,874,500

Provenance

Galerie Jean Désert, Paris, 1930;
Mme. Jean-Henri Labourdette, Paris;
by descent to her daughter Mme. Louis Pauwels, Paris;
Jean-Claude Brugnot, Paris;
Sotheby's, New York, 1-2 December 1989, lot 754.

Rue de Lota in Paris (1917-1921) – the apartment of Madame Mathieu Lévy; a revolutionary mix of art deco and high modernism.

Eileen Gray was commissioned by Madame Mathieu Lévy, a highly successful boutique owner which sold stylish hats to redesign and redecorate her apartment in Paris during which she created the famous Bibendum Chai; a large red leather chair with a back and arm rest made from two rolls of padded cushions. Eileen Gray's innovative Bibendum Chair was one of the 20th century's most recognisable furniture designs.

1920s: The E-1027 House

In 1924 Gray and Badovici began work on the house E-1027 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in southern France (near Monaco). The codename stands for the names of the couple: E for Eileen, 10 for Jean (J is the tenth letter of the alphabet), 2 for Badovici and 7 for Gray. E1027 is a house way ahead of its time and was revolutionary in her development of the architectural plans, ranking the needs of the inhabitants higher than the exterior finish.

E 1027 Villa, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin 1926-1929: model made by Steven Belflower and Todd McDowell, University of Florida, 1993-1994- Irish Architecture Foundation and the Irish Architectural Archive.

E-1027 (1926-29) – French Villa - built in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin built with Romanian architect Jean Badovici. 

The salon of E 1027, the 1920s house on the French Riviera designed by Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici.

The guest bedroom at E-1027 with the E-1027 Table designed by Eileen Gray

The late 1920s and early 1930s, Gray designed and furnished herself a new home, 'Tempe à Pailla' outside Menton.

The terrace at Tempe A Pailla with a folding S chair, 1932-34

Ellipse House, 1936

Scale model, made by Matt Ragsdale, University of Florida, 1993-1994

Irish Architecture Foundation and the Irish Architectural Archive

Invoice: 2006/15

For anyone who isn’t familiar with the work of Eileen Gray might think the furniture and interior decorative schemes to be a little out-dated, like going back in time to the 60's and 70's  but back in the early 20^th century, her style was avant-garde; completely radical. I admire her work but wouldn’t necessarily choose art deco as my personal preference if I were redecorating my own home. I may take some elements or a chose a piece of furniture or two but her style is modern and can be seen today in many homes and apartments today, especially in New York where the art deco style is certainly at the forefront.  Art Deco, originated in France but became and international decorative style that ran from 1919 to 1939 but didn’t receive its current name until 1968. Art Deco originated in a time of intense aesthetic experimentation; art movements such as the Bauhaus, Constructivism, Cubism, De Stijl, Futurism, Orphism, and Surrealism helped define the style's inherent modernism. Eileen Gray is known amongst other influential female interior designers and decorators of the 20^th century like Elsie de Wolfe (1865-1950), an American actress cum interior decorator and author of the influential 1913 book The House in Good Taste from New York. She was responsible for bringing the French taste to colonial America. It is said that Interior Design as a profession was invented by Elsie de Wolfe but no other interior designer was as progressive and innovative as Eileen Gray.