The Barcelona Chair on the Appraisers Post

Please forgive a little cross promotional postings but there is an excellent article on the Appraisers Post from fellow appraiser Soodie Beasley, ASA AM that I want to make sure fellow appraisers view. Soodie writes about the Barcelona Chair on the Appraisers Post. Soodie also has an upcoming article on 20th century furniture designers Marx, Mont, Duquette and Springer in the Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies - 2010. Soodie also contributed an article to the 2009 Journal entitled Discovering a New Collecting Category: Furniture by Decorators.

As appraisers 20th century design is becoming more and more important, and we should start spending more time studying and advancing the scholarship of this emerging period in decorative design.

Soodie states

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is credited for the design of this chair. But many of us might not know that Lilly Reich (1885-1947) played an enormous role in the development of many of Mies van der Rohe’s designs. Though she has been credited in a few scholarly journals and books, her name has largely been forgotten. It is interesting to note that Mies did not fully develop any furniture designs successfully before and after his professional and personal relationship with Lilly Reich.

After all, architecture and industrial design were considered a man’s domain. There were male as well as female practitioners, and yet history books are filed with primarily men’s. When Mies was asked to design the German Pavilion, he chose Reich as his co-collaborator. Reich was responsible for the curvilinear forms and vivid colors of Mies work. She brought a soupçon of sophistication to their designs. She understood that fashion was integral component. Reich continually explored the visual as well as tactile qualities exploring the contrasts between polished metal and textured surfaces.

To read the full article by Soodie, click HERE. If you have not visited the Appraisers Post recently, please take time to do so, recent article on the Artfact app for the iPhone, David Maloney on appraisal assistance and now Soodie Beasley on the Barcelona chair.