Screen thumbnail 1
Screen thumbnail 2
+18
images
Not currently on display at the V&A

Screen

ca. 1923 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This screen was made by Eileen Gray around 1923 and was in her apartment on Rue Bonaparte in Paris until her death in 1976. Irish born Gray moved to Paris in 1902 where she spent most of her life as an designer. It was in Paris that she established her reputation as successful practitioner of lacquerwork, having studied with Northern Japanese artisan Seizo Sugawara from 1906. Gray exhibited her lacquerwork at the VIII Salon des Societe des Artistes Decorateurs in 1913, where she acquired notable and influential patrons such as the couturier Jacques Doucet. This screen shows Gray’s move away from decorative symbolism towards a more architectural abstract style.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 8 parts.

  • Panel
  • Panel
  • Panel
  • Panel
  • Panel
  • Panel
  • Panel
  • Panel
Materials and techniques
Wood, with red and black lacquer, silver leaf and composite decoration; brass hinges The screen is lacquered - a highly skilled and lengthy technique where each panel was painted with at least a dozen thin layers of lacquer on a prepared wooden base. Each layer was dried in a warm, dust-free, humid environment for a day or two, then polished smooth with several grades of pumice before the next was applied. After the designs were complete, the entire lacquer surface was finally polished with graded grits of ground charcoal. The screen appears to have been manufactured using a traditional Japanese layer structure: Mashed fibres with clay and lacquer, various foundation layers of orange clay with lacquer and pigmented lacquer layers (no pure lacquer layers as all layers contain opaque pigments). The pigment materials used are vermilion, hematite and orpiment. The repairs on the red side of the screen were made in a similar way.
Brief description
Screen, wood with red and black lacquer, silver leaf, and composite decoration, Eileen Gray, probably France, ca. 1923
Physical description
The wooden screen is composed of eight separate panels, held together by brass hinges.
Eight-fold Screen: wood with red and black lacquer, silver leaf, and composite decoration, brass hinges. The decorated side of the screen in lacquered in black whilst the reverse is finished in red. Geometric designs in silver foil were applied in the last few layers.
Dimensions
  • Height: 207cm
  • Depth: 1.7cm
  • Overall width: 435cm
  • Each leaf width: 54cm
Gallery label
Folding screen About 1928 Designed and made by Eileen Gray (1879–1976) Restored and possibly altered around 1970 by Prunella Clough France (Paris) Wood with at least two types of black lacquer and red lacquer, with silver leaf Hinges: brass Surface decoration: composition Given by Prunella Clough Museum no. W.40-1977 Eileen Gray learned the highly specialised craft of lacquer in Paris, under a Japanese master, Seizo Sugawara. She applied lacquer using standard methods but omitted the traditional, varied and complex decorative techniques. Although a folding screen is a Japanese furniture form, the flat, mirror-like surfaces of her lacquer are unlike the subtly variegated effects of Japanese lacquer. (01/12/2012)
Credit line
Given by Prunella Clough
Object history
Eileen Gray was one of the first Westerners to practice lacquer work learning the technique in1906 from Seizo Sugawara in Paris, a Japanese artisan from Northern Japan. Gray apprenticed herself to Sugawara for six years before showing her work publicly at the Salon Des Artistes Decorateurs in 1912.

This screen was made by Eileen Gray around 1923 and was in her apartment on Rue Bonaparte in Paris until her death in 1976. Prunella Clough remembered that the screen was in two parts in the flat of her aunt (Eileen Gray) and recalled, the parts were never put together (in a letter to Simon Jervis, Acquisition file). Although the screen was originally created in 1923 it is likely that one of the panels was re-worked at some point (possibly in the late 1960s or early 1970s) by Prunella Clough under the supervision of Eileen Gray.

By the time Eileen Gray was born in 1878, ‘Japonisme’ – the influence of the arts of Japan on those of the West was well established. From the 1850s, after two hundred years of self-imposed seclusion, Japan opened its harbours for the first time to foreign ships. Japanese objects quickly entered Europe and became hugely popular. In addition, collectors, writers, and art critics undertook many voyages to Japan in the 1870s and 1880s, leading to the publication of articles about Japanese aesthetics. Eileen Gray was the first Westerner to practice Asian lacquerwork, learning the technique from Northern Japanese artisan Seizo Sugawara in Paris from 1906. (See Caroline Constant, Eileen Gray (London; Phaidon Press, 2009), p. 9).

Gray was producing lacquer screens as early as 1912. She displayed a blue and red laquer panel, entitled 'Le Magicien de la Nuit', at the VIII Salon de la Societe des Artistes Decorateurs in 1913. Gray’s laquer work proved successful; with articles published, sales of her work and commissions. After seeing Gray’s work at the Salon in 1913, Jacques Doucet went on to purchase and commisson lacquer work by Gray. (See Peter Adam, Eileen Gray: Her Life and Work, London: Thames and Hudson, 2009, p. 40 – 43.)

In 1922 Eileen Gray opened a gallery, Galerie ‘Jean Désert’ at 217 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré where she exhibited and sold her work. At this time Gray also maintained a workshop devoted mostly to furniture and lacquer at 11, rue Genègéaud.
Historical context
This screen was made by Eileen Gray around 1923 and was in her apartment on Rue Bonaparte in Paris until her death in 1976. Prunella Clough remembered that the screen was in two parts in the flat of her aunt (Eileen Gray) and recalled, the parts were never put together (in a letter to Simon Jervis, Acquisition file). Although the screen was originally created in 1928 it is likely that one of the panels was re-worked at some point (possibly in the late 1960s or early 1970s) by Prunella Clough under the supervision of Eileen Gray.
Association
Summary
This screen was made by Eileen Gray around 1923 and was in her apartment on Rue Bonaparte in Paris until her death in 1976. Irish born Gray moved to Paris in 1902 where she spent most of her life as an designer. It was in Paris that she established her reputation as successful practitioner of lacquerwork, having studied with Northern Japanese artisan Seizo Sugawara from 1906. Gray exhibited her lacquerwork at the VIII Salon des Societe des Artistes Decorateurs in 1913, where she acquired notable and influential patrons such as the couturier Jacques Doucet. This screen shows Gray’s move away from decorative symbolism towards a more architectural abstract style.
Bibliographic references
  • Baker, Malcolm, and Brenda Richardson (eds.), A Grand Design: The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: V&A Publications, 1999.
  • Adam, Peter, Eileen Gray: Her Life and Work (London: Thames and Hudson, 2009), pp. 142 -3, and p. 260 for image.
  • Caroline Constant, Eileen Gray, London: Paidon Press, 2000, p.9
  • Johnson, Stewart, Eileen Gray: Designer 1879 – 1976 (London: Debretts, 1979), p. 28 image and front cover image.
  • Spalding, Frances, Prunella Clough. (Lund Humphries, 2012), pp. 168 – 206.
  • This object features in 'Out on Display: A selection of LGBTQ-related objects on display in the V&A', a booklet created by the V&A's LGBTQ Working Group. First developed and distributed to coincide with the 2014 Pride in London Parade, the guide was then expanded for the Queer and Now Friday Late that took place in February 2015.
  • E. de Cleremont-Tonnere, 'Les Laques de Miss Eileen Gray', Feuillets d'Art, February-Marc,h 1922
  • J. Badovici, introduction by Jan Wils., 'L'Art d'Eileen Gray', Wendigen, No. 6, Amsterdam, 1924
  • Thornton, Peter. ‘A Very Special Year: The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Furniture Acquisitions in 1977’. Connoisseur, vol 198, no 196, June 1978.
Collection
Accession number
W.40:1 to 8-1977

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdApril 14, 2003
Record URL
Download as: JSON