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Collections

Charles Eames
Chair1940

Not on view
Mid-century modern side chair with honey-brown wood veneer shell back and steel-blue upholstered seat, viewed from the rear three-quarter angle, on splayed wooden legs
Designer
Charles Eames
United States, active United States, California, Venice, 1907-1978
Designer
Eero Saarinen
Finland, active United States, 1910-1961
Textile designed by
Marli Ehrman
Germany, 1904-1982
Manufacturer
Haskelite Manufacturing Corporation
United States, Illinois, Chicago, circa 1917-circa 1957
Textile manufacturer
Heywood-Wakefield
United States, Massachusetts, Gardner, 1897-1979
Title
Chair
Date Made
1940
Medium
Mahogany, wool (replaced)
Dimensions
32 1/2 x 18 x 22 in. (82.55 x 45.72 x 55.88 cm)
Credit Line
Decorative Arts and Design Council Fund
Accession Number
M.2008.290.1
Classification
Furnishings
Collecting Area
Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes

This chair was an effort by architects Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen to create affordable modern furniture. It was designed for and exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art’s 1941 Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition, which, as a press release declared, was intended “to discover good designers and engage them in the task of creating a better environment for today’s living.” The chair is a prototype that was never put into production. The technical innovation of molding plywood into a three-dimensional shape was fully realized and made affordable only after World War II.



(California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way," 2011-12)

Selected Bibliography
  • Tigerman, Bobbye, and Monica Obniski. Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890-1980. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2020.
Selected Exhibition History
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". July 6, 2013 - September 29, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". July 6, 2013 - September 29, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". November 2, 2013 - February 9, 2014
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". November 2, 2013 - February 9, 2014
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". March 29, 2014 - July 6, 2014
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way". March 29, 2014 - July 6, 2014