Object Type
This chair is a simplified version of Godwin's designs for chairs in the Greek style which he produced from 1885. It was available in four different versions, with or without arms, either with upholstered back and seat and turned legs, like this example, or with wooden seat and back and plain legs.
Design & Designing
Drawings in Godwin's sketchbook shows that this range of Greek-style furniture was inspired by his study of antiquities in the British Museum, particularly by a stool taken from the Elgin Marbles, and by a classical couch illustrated in the Dictionnaire des arts grecques, published in Paris in 1873.
Time
Godwin's earliest record of Greek furniture designs is a payment for work for the trade in his ledger in 1876. By 1885 he had developed ideas for a range of furniture in the Greek style, including an elaborate armchair made of rosewood which he illustrated in the periodical Building News on 29 May. On 18 December he illustrated a group of inexpensive furniture, including this chair, in the same periodical.
Place of Origin
London, England (made)
Date
ca. 1885 (made)
Artist/maker
Edward William Godwin, born 1833 - died 1886 (designer)
William Watt & Co. (possibly, maker)
Materials and Techniques
Ebonised oak, with turned decoration on the legs; modern upholstery
Dimensions
Height: 103 cm, Width: 42.8 cm, Depth: 49.5 cm, Height: 44 cm seat
[Drop-in seat] Height: 8.2 cm, Width: 42.5 cm, Depth: 38 cm
Object history note
Godwin's design for this chair was published in The Building News, 18th December 1885, p.1011, 'Working Drawings of Inexpensive Furniture...Made by William Watt'. The drawings were annnotated to show different versions of the chair, one of which had arms, and that the stuffed back and seat could be covered in stamped leather or in a patterned fabric.
Godwin's design has been called a 'Greek' chair because of the turned legs which he may have based on the legs of stools shown in the Parthenon frieze at the British Museum recorded in his sketchbook (V&A E.472-1963). Below this sketch are brief details of published illustrations he might have used, The Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines, edited by Charles Dahremberg and Edmond Saglio, published in Paris from 1873, the first volume A-C being finally completed in 1886.
The Museum's example of the chair is one of three with the same provenance from Elizabeth, Lady Kilbracken and her daughter, Katherine Godley. The second is in a private collection and the third was with H. Blairman & Sons Ltd., London, 2000. The example with Blairmans has an enamel plaque on the underside of the frame, 'HEIRLOOM WILLIAM WATT'S REPRESENTATIVES TRADEMARK REGISTERED 10 & 12 GRAFTON STREET GOWER STREET LONDON W.C.' This refers to the new firm, whose owners bought Watt's business after his death in 1885 and moved the premises from 21 to 10 & 12 Grafton Street. This new firm closed 1887-8.
Descriptive line
Chair, oak, ebonised and turned, with replacement leather back and seat cover; designed by E.W. Godwin and possibly made by William Watt, British about 1885.
Exhibition History
The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 (Victoria and Albert Museum 02/04/2011-17/07/2011)
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)
British Design at Home (Tokushima Modern Art Museum 10/09/1994-06/11/1994)
British Design at Home (Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art 05/07/1994-21/08/1994)
British Design at Home (The Museum of Art, Kobe Hankyu 15/05/1994-22/06/1994)
British Design at Home (Saitama Prefecture Modern Art Museum 05/04/1994-05/05/1994)
Labels and date
This is a variation of Godwin's famous Greek Chair. In style it in no way relates to his Anglo-Japanese pieces shown here. [1993]
British Galleries:
The designer E.W.Godwin described this chair as 'Greek', but it is very similar in style to his Anglo-Japanese furniture of the 1860s, which used elements of Japanese construction. [27/03/2003]
International Arts & Crafts
The designers of the Aesthetic Movement, such as Godwin, looked beyond Europe for inspiration. This chair is classical in form but draws on Japanese construction techniques in the square section of the seat rail. The designers of the Arts & Crafts Movement returned to European models, both British and Medieval. [17/03/2005]
Materials
Oak
Techniques
Turning; Upholstering
Categories
Furniture; Woodwork; British Galleries
Production Type
Limited edition
Collection code
FWK
