Eileen GRAY

Irish furniture designer and architect Eileen Gray (1878-1976) is considered one of the leading figures of 20th century design due to her influence in the modernist movement. From a wealthy family, in her youth she visited several countries, including Italy, Switzerland and above all France, in particular Paris during the Universal Exposition of 1900: she then moved to London, where she was among the first students admitted to the Slade School of Fine Arts (1901) and continued his studies in Paris (1902-1905). Back in London, she works at a furniture workshop in Soho: dissatisfied with her designs, she devotes herself to furniture lacquering, a discipline that she will perfect in Paris for four years with the experienced Japanese master Sugawara. He settles in Paris (1907) and begins to apply his painting techniques to flat surfaces: he does not achieve full success in this first phase of his work, even if some of his lacquers are bought and exhibited (by the tailor Jacques Doucet for example) and the English edition of Vogue dedicates an article to her (August 1917). The first important commission was in 1919, with the furniture in rue de Lota for Madame Mathieu-Levy, in which "he designed every element of the furniture, including the wall coverings, the lamps, the furniture and the carpets, choosing particularly rigorous and sculptural "(McHardy). In her furniture, the famous Bibendum armchair and the spectacular Pirogue sofa stand out. Encouraged by these remarkable results, she opened the "Jean Désert" gallery in 1922: thanks to wealthy clients, her work was appreciated and exhibited (Salons d 'automne 1922-'23; XVI Salon des Artistes decorateurs). Her meeting with the Romanian architect Jean Badovici convinces Gray to take an interest in architecture. Thus was born the famous E.1027, a house in Roquebrune, Cap Martin (1929) and the apartment in rue Chateabriand (1931) and his house, Tempe à Pailla, in Castellar (1934), projects that testify to the "extraordinary architectural sensitivity of Gray, his taste for detail and, above all, his great practical sense ". Many subsequent projects are not realized, even if her "Holiday Center" stands out, exhibited by Le Corbusier at the 1937 Paris Expo. However, the full international recognition of Gray's works is late: in 1968, when the designer leads a life withdrawn outside the architecture and design establishment, an article by critic Joseph Rykwert in Domus re-evaluates his figure. Several exhibitions followed, the Bibendum armchair and the circular table E.1027 are back in production and her products are currently considered as precious pieces of twentieth-century design. /