Pair of Upholstered T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Slipper Chairs
View Similar Items
Pair of Upholstered T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Slipper Chairs
About the Item
- Creator:T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 31 in (78.74 cm)Width: 26 in (66.04 cm)Depth: 28 in (71.12 cm)Seat Height: 17.5 in (44.45 cm)
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1954
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: 1503269120494
T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings
British-born designer, interior decorator and author T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings (1905–76) was one of the great American tastemakers in the middle decades of the 20th century. Much like Edward Wormley, Robsjohn-Gibbings was a design classicist by education and inclination, but he would come to create some of the most gracious and livable modern furnishings of the era.
Robsjohn-Gibbings studied architecture at the University of London, then held various jobs that included designing décors for passenger liners and working as the art director of a film studio. In the early 1930s, while employed by the upper-crust interior designer Charles J. Duveen, Robsjohn-Gibbings experienced an epiphany during a visit to the British Museum. Examining the furniture depicted on ancient Greek ceramics — lithe stools and klismos chairs — he realized that he had found a design touchstone. By 1936, he had moved to New York and set up a showroom on Madison Avenue for his modern reinterpretations of classic Greek designs. Aided by contacts he’d developed while working with Duveen, he quickly established a clientele that included Elizabeth Arden, Doris Duke and Thelma Chrysler Foy.
Through his writings for magazines and books, Robsjohn-Gibbings earned a public following and was established as an urbane arbiter of taste. From 1943 to 1956, he produced an understated line of modernist furnishings for Widdicomb, which included one of the icons of the period: the tiered, biomorphic Mesa coffee table (1951). Robsjohn-Gibbings moved to Athens, Greece, in 1966, and created a new line of antiquity-inspired pieces for the firm Saridis. The series turned out to be his swan song.
Collectors’ interest in Robsjohn-Gibbings was reignited in the 1980s, when the 200-plus pieces from his 1936–38 commission for the Bel-Air estate of Los Angeles socialite Hilda Boldt Weber — pared-down neoclassical pieces rendered in blond wood (with the occasional flourish) — came on the market. (Up until then, the collection had remained in the house, despite its having changed hands several times.)
But his work for Widdicomb remains his most widely known, appreciated for its elegance and generous proportions. Robsjohn-Gibbings despised the stern aesthetic associated with his Bauhaus contemporaries, and a keynote of his modernist pieces is that they have no sharp angles. His chair and sofa frames, table legs and even many cabinets feature softly contoured edges. In whatever styled he designed, Robsjohn-Gibbings was guided by simplicity and timelessness. He wanted his furniture to be lived with happily.
- Pair of T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Slipper ChairsBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in Dallas, TXA pair of slipper chairs designed by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb reupholstered in Holly Hunt / Royal Alpaca / Angora.Category
Vintage 1950s Slipper Chairs
MaterialsWalnut
$12,500 / set - T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Slipper Chairs, PairBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in East Hampton, NYClassic pair of slipper chairs designed by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, circa 1954. The frames are walnut and the chairs have been recently reupholstered in button tufted soft Yves Klein ...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Walnut
$16,900 / set - T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb Upholstered Slipper ChairBy Widdicomb Furniture Co., T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in Garnerville, NYT.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb slipper chair. The slipper chair traditionally is an armless chair that sits closer to the floor than other chairs. Featuring that elegantly tape...Category
Vintage 1940s American Hollywood Regency Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Foam, Wood
$2,316 Sale Price20% Off - A Pair of T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Classic Slipper ChairsBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in St.Petersburg, FLA pair of classic slipper chairs by T.H.Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb. Walnut frames, refinished in medium tone and reupholstered in Rogers& Goffigon "paver" fabric in "gunite"colo...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsUpholstery, Walnut
- Slipper Chairs by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Widdicomb in Pink BoucléBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in Phoenix, AZPair of T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb slipper chairs with refinished frames. These have been newly upholstered in pink Turkish bouclé. These chairs epitomize graceful lines wi...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Slipper Chairs
MaterialsBouclé
- Pair of Unusual Slipper Chairs by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Widdicomb, circa 1950sBy T.H. Robsjohn-GibbingsLocated in St.Petersburg, FLA pair of rare and unusual French style slipper chairs by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb, circa 1950s.Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Slipper Chairs
MaterialsWalnut