House trained

This grizzly image has been jammed in the back of a file for some time. 

It's surreal and it fits into my old anthropomorphic furniture (animal-pomorphic?) and curio themes. 

It's a stunning piece of Americana -hard to look on today-

but it made me think of  Jean Baudrillard's book, Le système des objets

 where  he calls objects the perfect pets!

 L’objet est l’animal domestique parfait. 

C’est le seul " être " dont les qualités exaltent ma personne au lieu de la restreindre. 

Au pluriel, les objets sont les seuls existants dont la coexistence est vraiment possible, puisque leurs différences ne les dressent pas les uns contre les autres, comme c’est le cas pour les êtres vivants, mais convergent docilement vers moi et s’additionnent sans difficulté dans la conscience.

The object is the perfect pet. 

It  is the only "being" whose qualities glorify my person instead of restricting it. 

In the plural, objects are the only entities with whom co- existence is fully possible, since the differences between them do not pit them against one another, as is the case for living beings; 

instead submissively, they come together with me and are amassed with the greatest of ease

 in my consciousness. 

more on the chair's maker here

Carried away

photo: Le style et la matiére

Seen in Barcelona 

and re-discovered in Paris

as 

Kart by Deguedre

Sitting in with Voltaire and Rousseau...

photo: Le style et la matière

Although I have not been able to sit down to write of late, readers here may remember my slightly animist tendancies in decorative arts (previous posts here, here, here, here if really you are interested!) that I labelled 'anthropomorphism.' I'm still drawn to this aspect of the objects we surround ourselves with and I get regular signals that I'm not alone in my whimsy.

photo: Le style et la matière

Witness this recent advertisement in the Metro for a meeting-dating site... 

where pink can meet blue and surely other color combos too.

bookcover illustration by

It may strictly be a question of limbs: 

the chair probably ranks number one on the list of human surrogates in the object world.

Faudesteuil Dagobert source: Grammaire des arts décoratifs

Le bon roi Dagobert

Avait un vieux fauteuil de fer...

The old days were not times for postural laisser-aller and sitting itself was not a priority. Even a king did not expect padded comfort for his regal posterior. The message of the throne bespoke personal power and these seats, even in more ancient and rudimentary forms, were some of the first important examples of surrogacy. The Trone de Dagobert the oldest example of a  faudesteuil, an armchair  based on the Roman curule or folding X seat. The armrests and backrest here are later in date, presumably Merovingian additions to the base. It was blocked into a stable seat in the 12th century. 'Faudesteuil' derives fromFaldestoel the German word for folding stool.From here it is easy to see the transformation to the modern French for armchair, fauteuil. (to follow up on this throne with photos and more information see here.)  

source: Grammaire des arts décoratifs

Charles Blanc, celebrated 19th century author of many works including the 

Grammaire des decorative arts and editor-in-chief of La gazette des beaux arts, 

wrote of the intricacies of seating furniture from the ployant (folding stool) and simple tabouret (stool) to the grandeur of the Louis XIV fauteuil and so on to the comfort of the Louis revivals of the late 19th century. Historic and aesthetic considerations aside, Blanc's writings show his consciouness of the  societal elements represented by furniture and how dress and decorum influenced design. The caption for the illustration above reads, "who among us would dare to propose an ogival seat to a contemporary of Mme de Pompadour?"

Mais, jamais de la vie!

source: regard'antiquaire

La comfortable and elegant bergère appeared on the scene to accomodate intimate gatherings and new ways of living.

With their constantly clever expressions and affected manners, les Precieuses of the 17th century were right to call armchairs 'vehicules de conversation' and say about them:

Voici une bérgère qui vous tend les bras.

Here is a bergère who stretches out its arms to you.

But, do be careful into whose arms you fall. Choose wisely and especially, be ever on your guard never to become a slouch in this important relationship. 

source: destockmeubles

The comfortable armchair known as the Voltaire was a creation of the Louis-Philippe period (1830-48) and was not contemporary with Voltaire. 

Voltaire by Houdon

The philosopher did however appreciate similar comfort in seating.

Blanc writes:

La vieillesse de Voltaire nous a valu un fauteuil cher à tous ceux qui conservent l'activité de l'intelligence dans l'affaiblissement du corps, et il est assez curieux, ce me semble, qu'un homme uniquement occupé des choses de l'esprit en ait remontré aux ébénistes en inventant le plus confortable des sièges.

From Voltaire’s advanced years we have gained the benefit of an armchair valued by all those who preserve their wits despite bodily weakening, yet it seems to me rather curious that a man solely devoted to matters of the mind should have guided cabinet-makers on the road to inventing the most comfortable of chairs. 

source galerie francois belliard

The table à la Tronchin could be inclined and adjusted up and down

Mais n'est-ce pas encore aux indications de Voltaire que nous devons la table Tronchin, imaginée par le célèbre médecin de Genève, afin que un homme de lettres y put écrire debout? Rien de mieux trouvé pour la santé de tous et pour l'esprit de quelques-uns, que cette table dont le pupitre, pouvant s'élever ou s'abaisser au gré de l'écrivain, lui permet de donner du mouvement à ces

idées, de les promener, pour ainsi dire, dans son cabinet, comme faisait Rousseau quand il déclamait par les chemins de son éloquence, et de revenir ensuite à sa table pour y écrire sa phrase tout d'une haleine, sans changer d'altitude, sans avoir à s'installer de nouveau.

And once again, was it not Voltaire’s indications that gave rise to the Tronchin table, imagined by the famous doctor of Geneva so the man of letters could write while standing? Nothing better has been found for the health of all and the mind of a certain number, than this table whose writing desk  is able to be raised or lowered at the writer’s will, permitting him to give movement to his ideas, to walk them about in his study so to speak,  just as Rousseau* did when he declaimed  eloquently from footpaths, then coming back  to his desk afterwards to write his sentence all in the same breath, without changing altitudes, without having to settle down again.

These days, and in such illustrous company, I'd be tempted to let our chair surrogates sit-in for us 

more and actually be sat in less. And now, that is just about as much sitting as... I can stand.

Is there a table à la Tronchin suitable for computers?

*Rousseau suffered from rhumatism and was known to be a great walker, 

the only way he found to calm his pain.

Thanksgivings past

When I was little there was a Charlie Brown special for every occasion and I was even allowed to watch them on school nights. I wonder if children still watch the little block head in the US.

Do you remember Happy Thanksgiving Charlie Brown? In it the great chef and organizer, Snoopy, prepares the dinner table for Peppermint Patti, Marci and Franklin who have invited themselves over for the day's feast. Before they partake in a less than traditional meal of popcorn, toast and jellybeans, 

there's a great scene where the resourceful beagle must wrestle with a chair 

when setting up a table for the feast in the garden.

The chair man lurks again.

It's time to get out our DVD. 

Can you get to old for Snoopy and Charlie Brown?

Happy Thanksgiving, America!

Chairly there

Photo: Vlisco

 Dutch Wax prints designed for the African diaspora use some of the most inventive patterns and are often on a larger scale than anything else designed for apparel. There's a sheer joy to these fabrics that Africans the world over have adopted as their own to the point of identifying with them despite their being designed in by Europeans for their market. Today several west African firms exist, yet the plus appreciated and 

imitated is Holland's Vlisco.  

These designs featuring chairs and buildings are right at home on this page.

For more about spectacular Dutch wax prints, please see my textile blog, St Tyl.

Matisse : Objects at Le Rêve

Interieur Jaune et Bleu 1946

Matisse had a strong attachment to the objects he surrounded himself with - ordinary objects that he carried with him from atelier to atelier for over forty years: water jug, coffee pot, Alsasian wine glasses, pottery, shells, loads of colorful fabrics, and good number of chairs.With them, he created his universe of talismans through which he could channel emotion and conjure the beauties of the world.

Mon but est de rendre mon émotion. Cet état d’âme est créé par les objets qui m’entourent et qui réagissent en moi ...

My goal is to render my emotion, the state of mind created by the objects that surround me and that react in me...

Le Reve 1935 (Lydia)

When in 1943, the aging Matisse sought refuge from bombardments in Nice, it was with the aid of Lydia Delectorskaya that he was able to continue to work in the villa Le Reve in the tranquil town of Vence. His model since 1935, the highly efficient young Russian woman became his assistant and controlled all aspects of running his home and atelier. Less and less mobile, the artist expressed it simply, "sans elle, la maison n'existe plus." For Matisse, she was by turns Mme Lydia, the saint or the Bolshevik.... Whatever it took, for “maison” as anyone who appreciates Matisse must know, was an essential concept for the artist who repeatedly drew his inspiration from the interiors he occupied and the harmonies of objects he constructed there.

in English or French

Helene Adant, Lydia's photographer cousin, was fascinated by the exuberant creative atmosphere at Le Reve. She visited often and was able to document the intimacy of the artist's working environment, the minute changes of his arrangements of objects such as he determined, or not, to paint them. Adant's photographs of this period from 1943 to 1948 are featured in this captivating edition by Marie-France Boyer Matisse at Villa Le Reve. The compact but rich volume traces back to the sources of Matisse’s inspiration through nature, models, and objects, giving a precious record of the artist’s working processes in the mostly silvery photos of the period.

Photographs, sketches, paintings serve as three witnesses of Matisse's constant conversation with the objects and furnishings without which he unable paint. This touching documentary reality exhibits the artist's tools and touchstones before their painted transformation and conveys the importance he gave to them as his “inevitable necessities.” Could there be any doubt? As fascinating as it is to see backstage, the back drops and props don’t contain any magic on their own, yet they resonate as the master’s vectors. My favorite chapter in the book is devoted to chairs, clearly some of Matisse's favorite sitters.

Already in 1908, Matisse had expressed the goal of his painting  was to create an “art of balance, purity, tranquillity, without any worrisome or preoccupying subject … a cerebral tranquillizer, something analogous to a good armchair that relieves physical fatigue.”

One chair stands out from the rest -- and it wasn’t for the comfort it offered. It seems Matisse was smitten with an ardent passion for its curvaceous figure, its captivating presence. The artist's enthusiasm for the chair acted as a needed stimulus for new creation. The Venetian Baroque beauty was made up of two silver scallops, one forming the chair back, the other its seat. Its arms were reptilian; the legs also lizard-like.
Sketches followed, and the new muse was incorporated into many paintings.

J'ai enfin trouvé l'objet desiré depuis un an. ...Quand je l'ai rencontré chez un antiquaire il y a quelques semaines, j'ai été complétement retourné. Il est splendide, j'en suis habité.   

I finally found the objet I've sought  for a year now... When I  came upon it at the antique shop a few weeks ago, I was completely head over heels.... It is magnificent and I am as a man possessed.

Here the Venetian chair is posed as if it sitting for its own portrait.

On peut avoir besoin de se recueillir devant un fauteuil.../...

c'est la tendre admiration reportée sur l'objet familier qui a donné à cet objet assez d'interet pour recevoir le trop-plein d'un coeur.

One can feel the need to meditate before an armchair.../...

It’s the affectionate admiration of the familiar object that gives it interest enough to receive the heart's over-flow.

 For more on Lydia Delectorskaya,  the Musée de Matisse of Nice is currently exhibiting

Lydia D., Muse et model 

all images from Marie-France Boyer's Matisse at Villa Le Reve.

My Anthropomorphic Loves

Matisse

The Inhabited Silence of Houses

Every once and again when I'm alone at home and all is quiet, I slip off into a sort of 

pulsating atmosphere, where the Things around me beg for attention in a different way.

It's a bit like Disney's Beauty and the Beast,

without the singing and dancing and without the shiny faces.

The furniture seems to motion to me with its extreme stillness. It moans and whispers. Floors creak, armoires adjust themselves with little pops, a drawer opens with a baritone grate. There's a humming in the air.

 My cleaning lady tells me that she says "Bonjour, Maison!" when no one is in. So maybe I'm not alone in feeling a presence --- or maybe crackpots have a way of  finding one another. (A different cleaning lady identified more with another fairy tale. She saw herself as Snow White,  a beneficent presence who worked her magic by cleaning and putting everything right in the house. A lovely image. Unfortunately, her zeal was such that she scrubbed the paint right off the doors with very abrasive lessive St. Marc.)

Don't get me wrong, I don't talk to my furniture, I listen to it.  I do think we can communue with it in  moments of silence for our mutual benefit.

Gaudi

Calvet chair

Furnishings don't have to have a particular shape to make their presence felt at quiet moments, but some do exaggerate the point with their design, vying for attention among the more common lot.

How would you feel about sharing your home with this chair? You couldn't be lonely. You can tell me that you don't like Gaudi, but really, how could you dislike this little guy? Why, he's just stretching out his arms for affection!

Gaudi said, "Those who look for the laws of Nature as a support for their new works collaborate with the creator."  Could that be the secret?

 

There are furnishings that incorporate the gimmicks of human form as with this Ultra-meuble by Kurt Seligmann or the chair in this Castaing bathroom.

I don't think they have as much personality as pieces whose animate quality is more abstract -- though they are a kick !

*

Then some furniture is scary at night. My son was afraid of an enormous Ile-de-France armoire that loomed in his bedroom when he was a toddler. It may not have helped that we referred to it as le monstre because of its size, but I don't think we used that term in front of him. I used to have moments of fright when alone in the house for an hour or two as a child. I was sure the antiques my parents collected released their spirits when my parents closed the door.

R.W. Symonds and R. Luytens

It may just be me, but some furniture has more expressiveness than others suggesting a face, a pose, a movement. Does anyone else see a be-whiskered face here? I'm sure this chest of drawers contains many unspoken secrets. These smooth rectilinear surfaces prove that a living quality doesn't have to come out of organically inspired forms...

plaster lamp

Giacometti for Jean Michel Frank

but it often does.

Writhing forms and idiosyncrasies  aside, any furniture can speak to us. The most important thing is probably the vibration of one thing set off by another.

And quiet.

Shhhhh...

to Market

Last Sunday's sale at Osenat saw some chic pieces offered to the crowd. The 130 objects date to around 1900 and go up to the 1980s. It was offered up as "design."

Carlo BUGATTI - circa 1905

Some well-known items were withdrawn from the sale.

ALVAR AALTO - Ed. Artek - circa 1950

Some more than doubled their estimate.

Hector GUIMARD - Fonderies de Saint Dizier - circa 1905

Some were a steal.

Jansen Décoration - circa 1970

 Doesn't this original flock of six make you want to chirp?

Maria Pergay box -circa 1965

In all, it was a sale to write home about.

for full catalogue and results: Osenat

Pieces of a puzzle

Another find at Nobody & Co, Missing chairs. I love the dynamic of these chairs and could easily imagine having all 7 to group and rearrange following the moods and needs of the moment.

Even one isolated chair makes a strong sculptural statement.

This white version is almost phantomatic, very striking.

would you, could you ?

When I first saw this bibliochaise I found it ingenious but a little on the messy side. It is difficult to have enough room for books at home and there is something cozy about literally being surrounded by them, but those uneven bindings that poke over the top made me uncomfortable. Am I being silly? Yet there's something fun going on here and I can imagine this chair in an Arts and Crafts type study or a snug-rugged corner in an open loft space. It can be completed with a matching footstool, bibliopouf, that provides even more book space. The Italian editor, Nobody and Co. , delivers your choice of colors for the chair and upholstery which you used to be able to click through and try out on their on their site. I just saw the revamped site and it is much warmer and appealing even if it provides less information. So, book lovers, what's the verdict? Would this make you claustrophobic or cozy?

Take a Seat

Jasper Morrison believes that furniture design is all too often appreciated only in a visual way through magazines and media exposure. That is why it was important for him to permit visitors to try out the 21 chairs of his design at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in his exhibit, Take a Seat. As he says, we are all chair experts in the sense that we all know immediately if a chair is comfortable or not. As much as we might admire its curves and angles, a chair is not a piece of sculpture.

Does the perfect chair exist? There always seems to be something to criticise; they are either too expensive, too strange looking, or their back legs are too easy to stub our toes against. Is the back too low, too high, or too straight? Is it too heavy, too noisy, not stable enough ? In fact, there is never a sole solution. Morrison strives to perfect existing designs rather than aiming at innovation for innovation's sake. His goal is to make everyday items a pleasure to use without any gimmicks intended to sell them and that will quickly pass out of fashion. Along with fellow designer, Naoto Fukasawa, he coined the expression "Supernormal" to refer to this philosophy of lasting values for ordinary objects.

The Thinking Man's Chair (1986/2009 Cappellini, Italy) was inspired by an antique chair with a missing seat. With two small "tables" at the end of each armrest, it was destined to be called The Drinking Man's Chair. When working with pipe cleaners to make a model he noticed the brand's slogan, "the thinking man's smoke." Morrison immediately thought better of his first title.

Plywood Chair (1988 Vitra, Switzerland) Morrison made this chair himself from birch plywood sheets and a jigsaw. Another model exists with the back filled in, which the designer says is more comfortable but less exciting.

La Tourette (1998) was comissioned by the La Tourette monastery to replace its noisy delapidated refectory chairs. The monastery is located in Eveux north of Lyon and was designed by Le Corbusier. Morrison spent time here admiring the architecture and finding inspiration in its chapel benches with similar floor rails. He feels they lend the chairs a somewhat religious nature. They must also help to fulfill a technical requirement -- that of quiet chairs ! The chair is made of oak and teflon. Should we recommend it to parents of babies learning to walk?

Cork (2007 Vitra, Switzerland, 2007) Originally designed as small side tables, but most people take them as stools. There exist several shape variations that are made of recycled cork stoppers -- a material that is waterproof, rot proof, even termite proof.

Pipe (2008 Magis, Italy) The lacquered aluminum Pipe chair uses bicycle making techniques to create one of the strongest chairs ever made. This armchair version has the addition of resin reinforced plywood made with old, east German technology which is equally strong but warmer in character.