Eames at Chahroudi ?

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:42 pm

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Vintage-Origi ... 4d0c9c3aa3

Can a reader supply a photo showing these chairs in situ ?

SDR

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 9:44 pm

Another option:

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_cultu ... _14330.asp

Rood · Post by **Rood** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:08 pm

$250,000.00? Isn't that a bit much?

A Corbusier lounge chair in good condition was featured on Antiques Roadshow yesterday ... and it was valued at about $3-4,000.00. What on earth would make an Eames chair so much more valuable.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Tue Feb 11, 2014 10:12 pm

Many an online seller has an exaggerated vision of the American Dream . . . ?

SDR

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:49 am

This isn't the first time these re-upholstered Eames lounges have shown up on ebay at a ridiculous price...I seem to recall us Chatters jeering over this before.

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 11:26 am

Previous post By BBuck referring to these Eames chairs:

http://www.savewright.org/wright_chat/v ... c&start=75

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:19 pm

The listing mentions "photos of the chairs in the cottage," though such pictures are nowhere in evidence. Even if these chairs once belonged to the owner of the property and were (presumably) custom upholstered, it doesn't necessarily follow that they have anything to do with Frank Lloyd Wright.

SDR

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:49 pm

The Charoudi cottage was completed in 1951. The Eames lounger went into production in 1956.

http://m.youtube.com/?client=safari#/wa ... _X6RsN-HFw

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 4:48 pm

It's safe to say, I think, that Mr Wright never specified furniture other than his own, for any of his residential commissions. He may have tolerated the presence of seating by others, without acknowledging its superior comfort . . . ?

SDR

BBuck · Post by **BBuck** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 8:54 pm

I still stand by my offer, but I'm keeping my Rosewood #475 of 500 LCW.

BBuck

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 11:27 am

For Christmas 2005 I received a wrist watch from the director of "Becker." It has "Becker" written on the face. I was wearing the watch as I strolled down Rodeo Drive past Anderton Court. I'm going to sell the watch on ebay for $250,000 ... unless someone here wants to make an offer?

KevinW · Post by **KevinW** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 3:10 pm

From what Aaron, Bob, Earl and others have told me, Wright was actually quite pleased when he found furniture designs by others that he appreciated. One favorite was the Moller dining chair, and other Danish modern designers. Knowing this, though, does not defend these Eames chairs. Wright also was a fan of the Nessen swing arm lamps.

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:20 pm

The Nessen swing arm lamps (brass or brushed chrome, never shiny chrome...) are so ubiquitous from the late 1940s through the 50s, that it stands to reason that Wright (or an apprentice like John Geiger or John Hill) must have specified or at least suggested them. Period photos show them in all of the Iowa Usonian houses as well as countless others..

There are photos of Olgivanna and Mr. Wright sitting in two of the Erwin Lambeth barrel type chairs in the Usonian Exhibition House (apprentice John deKoven Hill, as I recall...) Notice how low to the ground they are!:
http://www.steinerag.com/flw/Artifact%2 ... S398ny.htm

These were also used in the Zimmerman house (John Geiger apprentice in charge) living room:
http://gregcookland.com/journal/2009/08 ... man-house/

Taliesin West featured chairs by Jens Risom and the wonderful biomorphic webbed 1945 designs of Ralph Rapson for Knoll in a comfortable dialogue with Wright's own plywood Origami chairs and canted hassocks:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 465&type=3
http://www.knoll.com/search-results?sea ... 7382605727

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Fri Feb 14, 2014 10:26 am

The Erwin Lambeth chair shows up in a November 1965 newspaper photo of the Sweeton living room:

http://www.savewright.org/wright_chat/v ... c&start=30

From what I understand, the Sweetons toured the Exhibition in NYC...the question is, did they own the chair before or after their visit to the Exhibition? Did a selection for the Exhibition house passively influence some local Wright homeowners' furniture choices?

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Sat Feb 15, 2014 10:10 am

It also could have been a question of availability. The big push of Scandinavian design occurred in the sixties (remember the request of JFK to sit on the Hans Wegner chair for the Nixon Kennedy debate?) when the finer pieces by designers like Wegner, Hvidt, became available to the broader American public.

The Erwin Lambeth pieces must have been more accessible in the fifties than chairs like Juhl's chieftain:
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1623100

Or was it the simplicity, restraint, low height, and somewhat vernacular quality of the EL chairs which Wright and company found appealing? Couldn't Juhl's chieftain even upstage an origami?