Armchair
- Place of origin:
Gloucestershire, England (made)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Ernest William Gimson, born 1864 - died 1919 (designer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Ash, turned on a pole-lathe, with splats of riven ash; replacement rush seat
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 125g, case 5
- Download image
Object Type
Ladder-back chairs like this were first made in the Middle Ages, but were most widespread between 1700 and 1900. These were simple, inexpensive chairs made and used in rural communities
Materials & Making
Individual regional makers often added characteristic details to the turned and shaped elements. For example, it was usual for the ash rear uprights of ladder-back chairs to be steam bent in a slight reclining curve. However, Ernest Gimson's chair has straight uprights. The rush used to make the seat was either harvested from British rivers during July, or imported from The Netherlands. It was an arduous and skilled job to weave rush seats by hand. They were often undertaken by out-workers after the chairmaker, known as a bodger, had made the frame.
People
Philip Clissett, a traditional chair bodger from the village of Bosbury, Herefordshire, sold some of his chairs to the Art Workers Guild in London in 1888. There, they influenced leading Arts and Crafts architects and designers. In 1890 he taught Gimson how to make ladder-back chairs. Gimson gave up making chairs himself in 1904, after which his designs were made by his assistant, Edward Gardiner.
Physical description
Ash ladder-back armchair with rush seat.
Place of Origin
Gloucestershire, England (made)
Date
1892-1904 (made)
Artist/maker
Ernest William Gimson, born 1864 - died 1919 (designer)
Materials and Techniques
Ash, turned on a pole-lathe, with splats of riven ash; replacement rush seat
Dimensions
Height: 125.7 cm, Width: 55.8 cm, Depth: 48.2 cm
Object history note
Designed and possibly made by Ernest W. Gimson (born in Leicester, 1864, died in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 1919) in Pinbury or Sapperton, Gloucestershire
Object sampling carried out by Jo Darrah, V&A Science; drawer/slide reference 7/81.
Descriptive line
Ladder-back armchair, ash, with rush seat, designed by Ernest Gimson, Britain, after 1888
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Karen Livingstone and Linda Parry, eds., International Arts & Crafts (V&A: V&A Publications, 2005), p.102.
Exhibition History
Life and Art: Arts and Crafts from Morris to Mingei (Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya 12/06/2009-16/08/2009)
Life and Art: Arts and Crafts from Morris to Mingei (Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo 24/01/2009-05/04/2009)
Life and Art: Arts and Crafts from Morris to Mingei (The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto 13/09/2008-09/11/2008)
International Arts & Crafts (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 18/06/2006-18/08/2006)
International Arts & Crafts (Indianapolis Museum of Art 27/09/2005-22/01/2006)
International Arts & Crafts (Victoria and Albert Museum 17/03/2005-24/07/2005)
Labels and date
British Galleries:
This chair epitomises the Arts and Crafts style. It is based on a traditional country design and is simple in form and traditional in structure. In 1892, Ernest Gimson, a London-based architect and designer, moved to the Cotswolds. There he set up a workshop dedicated to the idea of a community of craftsmen making good quality objects by hand. [27/03/2003]
International Arts & Crafts
Arts & Crafts was often based on traditional country forms. Gimson was one of a number of London architects who left the city to set up his own workshop in the country. A chair 'bodger' from Herefordshire called Philip Clisset, showed him how to make ladderback chairs, a type that had been common since the early 18th century. [17/03/2005]
Categories
Furniture
Collection code
FWK
