MACKINTOSH TO MOLLINO: FIFTY YEARS OF CHAIR DESIGN
Derek E. Ostergard
Derek E. Ostergard: MACKINTOSH TO MOLLINO: FIFTY YEARS OF CHAIR DESIGN. New York: Barry Friedman Ltd., 1984. Original edition. A very good softcover book in printed stiff wrappers: wrappers mildly shelf worn. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print.
8.5 x 11 softcover book with 96 pages with 68 black and white photographs and 15 black and white text illustrations. Published in conjunction with an exhibit at Barry Friedman Ltd. Hard to believe that the chair wasn’t a common piece of furniture until the Renaissance. By the twentieth century, the chair became more than a piece of furniture—it became a reflection of the designer’s philosophy especially regarding his/her stance on technology. Sometimes form triumphed over function. How comfortable are some of Marcel Breuer’s chairs?
A checklist for the exhibition includes numerous photographs of the manufacturer’s marks, labels, and signatures. I suspect this information might be useful to somebody.
The designers for the 65 chairs include Henry Van de Velde, Antonio Gaudi y Cornet, Hector Guimard, Eugene Gaillard, Louis Majorelle, Carlo Bugatti, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Victor Horta, Josef Maria Olbrich, Bernard Pankok, Peter Behrens, Bruno Paul, Richard Riemerschmid, Adolf Loos, Otto Wagner, Josef Hoffmann, Wilhelm Schmidt, Hans Vollmer, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Rohlfs, Francis Jourdain, Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Pierre Chareau, Jean-Michel Frank, Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand, Marcel Breuer, Bruno Mathsson, Marcel Louis Baugniet, Alvar Aalto, Gerald Summers, Elsie de Wolfe, Ray and Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen, Hans Wegner, Jean Prouve, George Nelson, Carlo Mollino, Franco Albini, and Dan Johnson.