High backed chair

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 - 1959)

V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum)

1902

Wright's design philosophy, which he called 'organic architecture', was based on an underlying and essential unity of programme, site, plan, elevation, structure, ornament and materials. This led him to conceive buildings in their totality, designing interiors, furniture, metalwork, ceramics, stained glass, textiles, lighting and murals wherever possible. He fully subscribed to the notion that a building was a complete work of art requiring that each element contribute to the effect of the whole. The high-back chair was a form he employed since 1895- before similar designs by C.R. Mackintosh - as a means of creating a separate, almost consecrated space within the dining room. Wright paid much attention to the symbolic content of his buildings and placed great importance on family rituals.

• Medium: oak with leather seat
• Dimensions: 141 x 43 x 46 cm
• Art Fund Grant: £10000 ( Total: £131,428)
• ArtFunded in: 1992
• Vendor: Thomas Monaghan

Provenance

One of a set of six chairs for Ward Willits House, Highland Park, Illinois; removed 1950, purchased by Mrs Cameron Brown who consigned the chair to Christie's New York, 1986; Mr Thomas S. Monaghan.

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