On the upcoming 50th anniversary of her death, John Low sketches the life and career of innovative Irish-born designer and architect Eileen Gray
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the hugely influential Irish-born designer/ architect Eileen Gray whose disciplines embraced furniture design, carpets, fabrics, graphic and photography. She was born in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford in 1878 and lived to the advanced age of 98.
Eileen Gray was born to a comfortable Anglo-Irish family in a townland near Enniscorthy. Her father was a painter and do doubt influenced her early artistic leanings
Remarkably she had no formal architectural training and was largely self-taught. But she was encouraged by the likes of Le Corbusier and notables from the German Bauhaus movement.
She probably designed numerous undocumented and unbuilt structures but is best remembered for just a handful of buildings and her most celebrated is Villa E1027, set below rocks and facing the Mediterranean on the French Cote d’A zur. She designed this in colloboration with her partner, Romanian architect and critic Jean Badovici. The name of the villa is a reference to their names – E stands for Eileen, while 10, 2 and 7 relate to the alphabetical positions of the rest of the couple’s initials: J, B and G
Villa 1027 on the French Cote d’A zur. It has been declared a National Monument by the French Government
Completed in 1929, E-1027 was the first major architecture project by Gray. Le Corbusier paid her the ultimate compliment by living in it for a number of year.
The villa fell into disrepair in the thirties and was thrashed by the Nazis during their occupation of France. After a campaign by leading French and international architects the villa was restored in the 1970’s and it has since been declared a National Monument by the French Government
Long before achieving fame with her architecture Eileen Gray was carving out a sizeable reputations for her furniture, carpets, fabrics and interior design concepts. She was in constant demand to design apartments and rooms for affluent Parisian clients. She opened a shop and a gallery and by all accounts was a shrewd business woman. She became relatively wealthy and must have cut a dash in her powerful sports car, clad in designer outfits, cruising the boulevards in the French capital .
One of Eileen Gray’s numerous chair designs
While she worked with corporates, institution and the movers and shakers of the time, her lasting legacy is arguably the furniture and fittings she designed, copies of which became mass produced and accessible to the ordinary punters. Remember those nests of chrome and glass tables that were all the rage in the seventies and have remained in and out of fashion? Take a bow Eileen, who came up with the original concept in the 1920s. Her minimalist chairs, lamps and geometric-patterned carpets preceded much of the German Bauhaus school and had a significant influence on the Art Décor movement .
The Slade School of Art, London. At just 20 Eileen Gray was one of the first women to be admitted into this prestigious academy
Eileen Gray lived most of her life in France but did make the odd trip to Ireland ads was proud of her Irish heritage. In the later years of her life she used a number of Irish carpet makers to carry out her designs as well as championing their skills and traditions
Arguably , Ireland has been slow to re recognise the international stature of Eileen Gray and the importance of her work in the world of design, notably furniture. But in recent times we seem to be falling over ourselves to pay homage to he: recently there was a retrospective exhibition of her work at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. RTE got in on the act with a lengthy documentary and An Post have issued a series of stamps featuring her designs.
Le Corbusier paid Eileen Gray the ultimate compliment when he lived in Villa 1027 for a number of years
While examples of Eileen Gray’s furniture and other works can command astronomical figures in auctions and smart antique shops, it is possible to acquire one of her table lamps for €1,000-€2000 since, while not mass produced many of them were made in sizeable numbers
Conversely her celebrated Dragon Chair, owned by Yves St Laurent and Pierre Berge, broke records for a 20th-century decorative artwork when it sold at auction for €21 million in 2009.
After the Second World War and up to her death in 1976, Eileen Gray continued to work as a designer on small and major projects as well as maintaining her long-standing interest in furniture design.
She died on October 31st 1976 and is buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. News of her death ws broadcast on French national radio.
Examples of her work can be seen in leading institutions around the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and of course The National Museum of Ireland in Collins Barracks, Dublin. The Royal Society of Arts appointed her Royal Designer for Industry in 1972.
For further information on Eileen Gray check out Eileen Gray: Her work and her world by Jennifer Goff, published by Irish Academic Press.
