SHIRO KURAMATA (1934-1991)
SHIRO KURAMATA (1934-1991)

'HOW HIGH THE MOON' A LOVESEAT, 1986

Details
SHIRO KURAMATA (1934-1991)
'HOW HIGH THE MOON' A LOVESEAT, 1986
executed by Terada Tekkojo, distributed by Idée, number 12 from an edition of 30, copper-plated steel mesh
28 in. (71.1 cm.) high, 61 in. (155 cm.) wide, 32½ in. (82.6 cm.) deep
Provenance
Paul Hughes Fine Art, London.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

Sign in
View condition report

Lot Essay

cf. A. Isozaki, Shiro Kuramata 1967-1987, Tokyo, 1988, pp. 98, 99, 101 and cover for another example of this design;
K. M. Armer and A. Bangert, 80s Style, New York, 1990, p. 57 for another example of this design;
Kuramata Design Office, Shiro Kuramata 1934-1991, Tokyo, 1996, pp. 2, 3, 56, 57 for examples of this design;
M. Eidelberg, Designed for Delight: Alternative Aspects of 20th Century Decorative Arts, Montreal, 1997. p. 167 for another example of this design;
Y. Brunhammer and M.-L. Perrin, Le Mobilier Français 1960-1998, Paris, 1998, p 249 for another example of this design;
A. Bassi, 'Shiro Kuramata: Il Design Transparente,' Casabella, July/August, 1999, p. 18 for a drawing of an armchair of this design;
M. Uydea, Shiro Kuramata, Tokyo, 2000, p. 181 for another example of this design;
M. Vabery, Moins et Plus. Le Design dans la Collection du Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, exhibition catalogue, Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris, 2002, pp. 19 and 93 for another example of this design;
D. Linley, C. Cator and H. Chislett, Star Pieces: The Enduring Beauty of Spectacular Furniture, London, 2009, p. 227 for another example of this design;
Exhibition catalogue, Shira Kuramata and Ettore Sottsass, 21_21 Design Sight Exhibition, Japan, 2010, p. 58 for a photograph of this design, p. 59 for a drawing of this design;
E. Alcorn, Decorative Arts and Design, Montreal, 2011, pp. 262, 263, pl 423 for another example of this design;
C. and P. Fiell, Modern Chairs, London, 2012, p. 600 for an example of this model in nickel-plated steel mesh;
D. Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata, London, 2013, essays & writings: pp. 102 and 161 for drawings of this design, pp. 114 and 139 for other examples of this design; catalogue of works: p. 340, no. 445 for drawings and examples of an armchair of this design.

Other examples of this chair model (either armchair or settee version) have been exhibited in Shiro Kuramata: Design as Poetry at the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany, October 2013 - January 2014; Shiro Kuramata (1934-1991) Revolutionary Japanese Designer at the Design Museum Ghent, Belgium, November 2012 - February 2013; the traveling exhibition The Essence of Things at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico, August - October 2013, Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany, April - September 2012, the Design Museum, Ghent, Belgium, August - October 2011, Museum August Kestner, Hanover, Germany, March 2011 - June 2011, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany, March - September 2010; Shiro Kuramata and Ettore Sottsass at 21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo, Japan, February - May 2011; Mois et Plus: Le Design dans La Collection du Fonds National d'Art Contemporain at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Saint-Etienne Métropole, Saint Etienne, France, November 2002 - February 2003; the traveling exhibition Shiro Kuramata 1934-1991 at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan, June - August 1999, Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, Austria, January 1999 - March 1999, Musée des Arts Décoratifs of the Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France October - December 1998, Gray Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University, New York, February - May 1998, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, August - December 1997, Centro Cultural/Arte Contemporaneo A.C., Mexico City, Mexico, April - June 1997, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan, June 1996 - September 1996.

Other versions of this design are in the permanent collections of the Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Paris, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the Design Museum Ghent, Belgium (in copper, of this edition), and the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein.

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Kuramata Design Office signed by Mieko Kuramata.

Shiro Kuramata: "The main problem is gravity, we must try to think of a way to remove gravity."


Relieved of its stuffing and frame, Shiro Kuramata's 'How High the Moon' sofa, with its glimmering mesh visually vibrating so as to blur its own outline, seems to float above the surface. One of Kuramata's best known works, it epitomizes and eloquently expresses his fascination with defying gravity and undermining the impression of support. Creating tension between form and function, it poses the question, could this birdcage like sofa, seemingly made only of air - all about surface and devoid of structure - hold one's weight?

Kuramata reinterprets a traditional, bulky piece of western furniture - the over stuffed sofa (not in the pantheon of traditional Japanese furnishing) - and reduces it to a clean box-like structure. Another element in Kuramata's exploration of new materials, the humble expanded mesh, conventionally a base for plaster, was never intended to be exposed before he began to design with it. Kuramata coated the mesh to produce a shimmering surface which, depending on the light, could be quite visible or almost completely transparent. The resulting imprecise outlines enhance the sofa's aura of intangibility.

The concept for 'How High the Moon' emanates from Kuramata's 1985 chair, 'Homage to Hoffmann, Begin the Beguine' (referring to the architect/designer Josef Hoffman and the Cole Porter song). For that piece, Kuramata wound steel tightly around a well-known Hoffmann chair produced by Thonet and then set it on fire. Once the wood chair was ash, the remaining exterior steel wire enclosed only air, a ghost form presaging Kuramata's 'How High the Moon'.

Named after the famed Jazz standard, 'How High the Moon's' ethereal presence and glistening surface evokes hazy late nights and the buoyancy of moonlight. Designed in 1986 'How High the Moon' was made in two versions, a single seat and a sofa, and first distributed by Idée in Japan and, at Kuramata's direction, fabricated by Terada Tekkojo ironworks.

More from BARRY FRIEDMAN: THE ECLECTIC EYE Evening Sale and Day Sale

View All
View All