Armchair
Armchair
1950-1960 (designed)
1950-1960 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret worked with his cousin Le Corbusier to design and build the new city of Chandigarh, the administrative capital of the Punjab region of India. In 1950 Jeanneret moved to India to oversee the project and he designed this chair for his own house. As with the new city's buildings, the furniture made for Chandigarh tempered European modernist design ideals with Indian traditions of craftsmanship and materials. The two-legged cantilevered frame relates the chair to tubular steel chairs of the 1920s and 1930s, but it is rendered here in timber. The seat, suspended on chains, is an original but somewhat awkward idea. Although Le Corbusier was seldom at Chandigarh himself, Jeanneret lived and worked there, as did the British architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry. He gave them this chair and its pair, together with a related settee.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Armchair |
| Materials and techniques | Wood, metal chain, cane, string |
| Brief description | Armchair, designed by Pierre Jeanneret, 1950-60, made in Chandigarh, India |
| Physical description | Timber chair with caned seat and string back. The base is formed from two parallel tapering floor level brackets, left and right, separated by stretchers, jointed to the rear uprights at the back. Tapering arms are cantlivered from these uprights and the seat is suspended from these arms on four chains, one at each corner of the square timber frame. The seat is caned. A stretcher separates the back uprights at the level of the arms, and the back is completed with string upholstery threaded continuously from the top proper left corner through holes in the uprights. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Production type | Limited edition |
| Gallery label | ARMCHAIR
Designed by Pierre Jeanneret (Swiss, 1896-1967)
Manufactured in India, maker unknown
Wood frame, caned seat, string back and metal chain
1950-60
Designed for Jeanneret's own house in Chandigarh where he lived during the design and construction of the new State of Punjab. Jeanneret's cousin Le Corbusier planned the entire city and was supposed to design the major public buildings; in fact these were largely the work of Jeanneret and the British architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew. The chair was given by Jeanneret to Drew and Fry.
W.1-1983 |
| Object history | This chair was designed by Pierre Jeanneret for his own house in Chandigarh, India. He gave it to his colleagues Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry, together with a pair to this chair and a similar two seater settee. |
| Summary | The Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret worked with his cousin Le Corbusier to design and build the new city of Chandigarh, the administrative capital of the Punjab region of India. In 1950 Jeanneret moved to India to oversee the project and he designed this chair for his own house. As with the new city's buildings, the furniture made for Chandigarh tempered European modernist design ideals with Indian traditions of craftsmanship and materials. The two-legged cantilevered frame relates the chair to tubular steel chairs of the 1920s and 1930s, but it is rendered here in timber. The seat, suspended on chains, is an original but somewhat awkward idea. Although Le Corbusier was seldom at Chandigarh himself, Jeanneret lived and worked there, as did the British architects Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry. He gave them this chair and its pair, together with a related settee. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.1-1983 |
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| Record created | November 17, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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