Eileen Gray Furniture
Designer, artist and architect Eileen Gray was one of the most fascinating creative figures of the 20th century. Her body of work includes lustrous lacquered pieces — her Dragons chair set an auction record for modern furniture ($28 million) at the 2009 sale of the Yves Saint Laurent estate — and sleek chrome furnishings that rival the work of Le Corbusier and the members of the Bauhaus as exemplars of pure, modernist design.
The independent and unconventional daughter of Irish landed gentry, Gray studied painting at London’s Slade School of Fine Art in her early twenties before moving to Paris in 1906 to pursue her artistic dreams. Gray had become captivated by lacquerware after seeing an exhibit in the Victoria & Albert Museum, and in Paris persuaded an expatriate Japanese master of the painstaking process, Seizo Sugawara, to teach her. Within a few years, Gray had become known among the cognoscenti for her sculptural lacquered furnishings, which she incorporated into the homes of interior design clients.
Gray was ever evolving as a designer. By the early 1920s she was creating geometric works that embodied the essence of Art Deco and the nascent modernist design movement. Some pieces — such as her Bricks screen, an assemblage of pivoting rectangular panels — employ the planar forms favored by Gerrit Rietveld and other De Stijl architects of the Netherlands. Others feature the tubular chrome framing used by Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. These include the Bibendum chair — named for the resemblance of its semicircular back and armrest to the character known in English as the Michelin Man — and the adjustable E 1027 side table, conceived in 1927 for the interiors of a stark white villa she designed for herself in the South of France.
Never a self-promoter, Gray drifted out of the limelight in the 1930s. Interest in her work was revived in the early ’70s, however, when the estates of her early clients came to auction. Her original lacquer pieces are the most coveted, but, as the sale of the Dragons chair shows, are rare and extremely expensive.
None of Gray’s designs were made in large numbers until, a few years before her death, she granted a production license. These pieces range in price from $1,000 to $2,500, depending on furniture type and condition. Gray’s work has become iconic of practical and elegant modernist design. Yet, as you will see on 1stDibs, many of her creations have a simplicity that makes them welcome even in a traditional setting.
1970s Italian Space Age Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
1940s French Art Deco Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Metal
1920s German Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome
1920s German Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome
Mid-20th Century French Art Deco Eileen Gray Furniture
Metal
1930s French Bauhaus Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Enamel, Steel, Nickel
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Nickel
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome, Aluminum
1940s French Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Aluminum, Brass
Early 2000s French Eileen Gray Furniture
Hardwood
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Wool
1930s French Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome
2010s German Eileen Gray Furniture
Leather
Mid-20th Century German Mid-Century Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Stainless Steel
1970s Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
20th Century Unknown Bauhaus Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome, Steel
1970s Northern Irish International Style Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Metal
20th Century Northern Irish Eileen Gray Furniture
Leather
1920s French Art Deco Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Leather, Wood, Lacquer
Late 20th Century French Bauhaus Eileen Gray Furniture
Brass, Nickel
20th Century French Eileen Gray Furniture
Metal, Chrome
20th Century French Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Metal, Enamel
1950s French Art Deco Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Aluminum, Steel
Mid-20th Century European Art Deco Eileen Gray Furniture
Fabric, Wood, Lacquer
2010s German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Velvet
2010s Italian Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Metal
20th Century French Eileen Gray Furniture
Metal, Gold, Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
1970s German Bauhaus Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome
2010s German Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
1920s European Mid-Century Modern Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome
2010s German Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Brass, Chrome, Metal, Aluminum
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
1940s French Modern Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Metal, Chrome
1970s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
1920s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
Early 20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Metal
20th Century French Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel, Chrome
1930s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
1920s Irish Art Deco Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome
Early 2000s German Bauhaus Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Glass
2010s German Eileen Gray Furniture
Lacquer
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
1990s German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Wool, Wood
2010s French Art Deco Eileen Gray Furniture
Brass, Nickel
1930s French Art Deco Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Brass
1950s French Mid-Century Modern Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome, Stainless Steel
Mid-20th Century Eileen Gray Furniture
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Steel
Mid-20th Century French Art Deco Eileen Gray Furniture
Enamel, Cut Steel
21st Century and Contemporary German Modern Eileen Gray Furniture
Wool
Eileen Gray furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
Creators Similar to Eileen Gray
- Where is Eileen Gray from?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Eileen Gray is from Enniscorthy, Ireland. Her formal art education was in London, and she later became one of the pioneers of the modern movement in architecture. You can shop a collection of Eileen Gray pieces from some of the world’s top sellers on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Eileen Gray was one of the leading pioneers of the modern movement in furniture and design. She was known for her tubular steel Bibendum Chair, a take on the Michelin Man. Shop a collection of Eileen Gray’s pieces from some of the world’s top sellers on 1stDibs.
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