Not currently on display at the V&A

Stool

ca. 1929 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This stool is one of several types of seat furniture designed for Henry and Barbara Church's villa in Ville d'Avray, France. The villa was designed by the Modernist architect Le Corbusier. The furniture was created by him in collaboration with his colleagues Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand. They also designed a chaise longue, a club chair and a swing-back chair for the house.

Modernism advocated free-flowing open spaces in architecture, and the furniture that inhabited these spaces was designed specifically with this in mind. The clean, uncluttered lines of this stool reflect this. Steel, in this case tubular steel, which provided strength without bulk, became a popular material in Modernist furniture. Charlotte Perriand said that 'metal plays the same part in furniture as cement has done in architecture', implying that it had become an essential component of furniture design.


Object details

Category
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Stool
  • Stool Seat Pad
Materials and techniques
Tubular steel, painted and fabric
Brief description
Tubular steel frame stool with fabric seat; French 1929 des. Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, Perriand
Physical description
Tubular steel frame made up of two long C-shaped tubes - a long horizontal section at floor level with shorter vertical sections at either end which form the four legs of the stool; the long C-shaped tubes are fixed to each other by a tubular stretcher three-quarters of the way up the legs and then by another slightly fatter tubular stretcher above this; the top stretcher has an oval hole in its underside at each end, the tops of the legs slot up into this hole and a large screw inserted at either end of the top stretcher fixes the legs in place. A length of fabric loops round the top stretchers to create the seat.
Dimensions
  • Height: 45.5cm
  • Width: 51cm
  • Depth: 36.5cm
Gallery label
STOOL Designed by Le Corbusier (Swiss, 1887-1965), Pierre Jeanneret (Swiss, 1896-1967) and Charlotte Perriand (French, born 1903) Manufactured by Thonet Frères, Paris Tubular steel, painted (later) and fabric About 1929 The stool and the chair nearby are said to have been part of the original furnishings of Corbusier's Villa Church in Ville d'Avray. This provenance suggests that these pieces may be prototypes of early versions of the designs. Although the frame is chromium-plated beneath the grey surface, it has been suggested the paint may have been applied during the 1930s. W.32-1987(1989-2006)
Credit line
Given by Mr T. Nash
Summary
This stool is one of several types of seat furniture designed for Henry and Barbara Church's villa in Ville d'Avray, France. The villa was designed by the Modernist architect Le Corbusier. The furniture was created by him in collaboration with his colleagues Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand. They also designed a chaise longue, a club chair and a swing-back chair for the house.

Modernism advocated free-flowing open spaces in architecture, and the furniture that inhabited these spaces was designed specifically with this in mind. The clean, uncluttered lines of this stool reflect this. Steel, in this case tubular steel, which provided strength without bulk, became a popular material in Modernist furniture. Charlotte Perriand said that 'metal plays the same part in furniture as cement has done in architecture', implying that it had become an essential component of furniture design.
Collection
Accession number
W.32:1, 2-1987

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Record createdFebruary 7, 2007
Record URL
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