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Eileen Gray
Eileen Gray
Her Work and Her World
Jennifer Goff
IRISH ACADEMIC PRESS
First published in 2015 by Irish Academic Press
8 Chapel Lane
Sallins
Co. Kildare
Ireland
In association with the National Museum of Ireland
© 2015 National Museum of Ireland
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
978-07165-3276-7 (paper)
978-07165-3277-4 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
An entry can be found on request
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved alone, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Printed and bound by Gráficas Castuera, Spain
Designed by www.sinedesign.net
1. Pirogue chaise longue, 1919-1920, lacquered wood, silver leaf © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Gift of Sydney and Frances Lewis
2. Guéridon table, circa 1922-25, wood and natural lacquer © Archives Galerie Vallois - Paris, Arnaud Carpentier
3. Wendigen rug, 1923, hand woven wool carpet, the rectangular field knotted in shades midnight-blue and black © Christies images
Contents
TWO A Moveable Feast: Stephen Haweis, Students and Paris
THREEThe Artist: Painting, Sculpture, Photography
FIVEKnotting and Weaving: Eileen Gray’s Carpet Design
SIXEngaging the Senses: Eileen Gray and Furniture
SEVEN‘A House is not a Machine’: Eileen Gray’s Domestic Architecture
EIGHTStories from Dominica and Beyond: Gray, Haweis and the Collage at E.1027
NINEA Tale of Two Houses: Eileen Gray and Le Corbusier
TENFor the People: Social and Cultural Architecture
ELEVENA Kindred Spirit: The Prunella Clough Letters
TWELVELonging for Home: Ireland and Her Later Years
Acknowledgements
The National Museum of Ireland Eileen Gray exhibition and collection was made possible through the belief of Dr Patrick F. Wallace and the previous Minister of the Arts Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Síle de Valera in the importance of bringing home Ireland’s greatest female designer. I want to thank Dr Wallace who in 1999 afforded me the incredible opportunity to research and work on this wonderful collection.
Within the National Museum of Ireland, I am very grateful to The Director, Raghnall Ó Floinn and the previous Keeper, Art and Industrial Division, Michael Kenny, who appointed me curator of this collection and especially for their generous support and guidance over the years. Thanks to all my colleagues in the National Museum of Ireland and the Office of Public Works especially the following departments: Art and Industry, Graphics, Education and Outreach, Marketing, Retail, IT, Administration, Facilities and Services. All of these departments have continually supported, promoted, and maintained the Eileen Gray exhibition and collection over the last decade. I would like to especially acknowledge the work of the Conservation department, the Registrar’s department, and the Photography department in relation to the vast amount of work which has been completed on this collection over the last decade. It is impossible to name each person individually in the museum with whom I have worked on this extraordinary collection and permanent exhibition over the past decade, however to each of you I sincerely and warmly ‘thank-you’.
Acknowledgement and sincere thanks go to Dr Kathleen James Chakraborty, Professor, School of Art History & Cultural Policy, University College Dublin under whose supervision the author’s doctoral thesis on the Eileen Gray collection at the National Museum of Ireland was written, for her editorial work and overwhelming support. Acknowledgement and thanks also to Dr Christine Casey, History of Art and Architecture Department, Trinity College Dublin, for her guidance and supervision through the early stages of my research.
4. Le Destin (The Destiny) four-panelled screen, 1913, wood, red and blue lacquer, engraved, raised colours © Archives Galerie Vallois - Paris, Arnaud Carpentier
My warm thanks to my sponsor Mark E. Brockbank who has literally made this book possible – I am indebted by your kindness and generosity. To those in Irish Academic Press especially Conor Graham, senior editor Lisa Hyde and editor Fearghal McClelland for believing not only in me and this book, but especially