Armchair
1929 (designed), after 1934 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This chair, by the celebrated Finnish designer of modernist furniture, Alvar Aalto, is from a design first produced in 1929, although this example must date from after 1934. It has a birch frame with laminated plywood seat and back. Aalto's furniture was manufactured in Turku in Finland and this model featured in the 1929 Turku 7th Centenary Exhibition. A year later it appeared in the Minimum Apartment Exhibition in Helsinki.
Aalto’s furniture was imported into Britain by the company Finmar. This company was founded in 1934 by Philip Morton Shand and Geoffrey Boumphrey following the success of an exhibition of Aalto furniture that they had arranged the previous year. It was sold to progressive furniture retailers such as Heal's and Bowman's and was used in both domestic and public buildings.
Aalto’s furniture was imported into Britain by the company Finmar. This company was founded in 1934 by Philip Morton Shand and Geoffrey Boumphrey following the success of an exhibition of Aalto furniture that they had arranged the previous year. It was sold to progressive furniture retailers such as Heal's and Bowman's and was used in both domestic and public buildings.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Birch and birch plywood |
| Brief description | Armchair of solid birch and birch plywood, stained black |
| Physical description | Armchair, of solid birch and birch plywood, stained black. The square-sectioned legs and plain seat rails are in solid birch, the back legs continuing as shaped, forward-sloping uprights for a continuous curved top rail which forms both arms and back. A curving back panel of plywood is set between this top rail and the similarly curved back seat rail, where it runs in a groove. Narrow uprights of solid birch edge the back panel. The plywood seat panel is fixed over the seat rails at the front and sides and set into the curving seat rail at the back. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Production | Although the model was first launched in 1929, the retailer's label on this chair indicates that it was not sold (and therefore probably not made) until after 1934 |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This chair, by the celebrated Finnish designer of modernist furniture, Alvar Aalto, is from a design first produced in 1929, although this example must date from after 1934. It has a birch frame with laminated plywood seat and back. Aalto's furniture was manufactured in Turku in Finland and this model featured in the 1929 Turku 7th Centenary Exhibition. A year later it appeared in the Minimum Apartment Exhibition in Helsinki. Aalto’s furniture was imported into Britain by the company Finmar. This company was founded in 1934 by Philip Morton Shand and Geoffrey Boumphrey following the success of an exhibition of Aalto furniture that they had arranged the previous year. It was sold to progressive furniture retailers such as Heal's and Bowman's and was used in both domestic and public buildings. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.53-1977 |
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| Record created | November 27, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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