Lot Essay
cf. Peter Adam, Eileen Gray Architect/Designer, 1987, pp. 181-182 and 294; Sotheby's New York, Important 20th Century Furniture, A Philip Johnson Townhouse, May 1989, lots 82 and 83; Rita Reif, "Lost Art Deco Designer is Rediscovered", The New York Times, May 4, 1989, p. C1; Betsey Fahlman, "Eyre de Lanux", Woman's Art Journal, Fall 1982, pp. 44-48; Martin Vaizey, "The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Walker, Part 2", Connoisseur, April 1973, p. 235 for an example of de Lanux's furniture; Madge Garland, "Interior by Eyre de Lanux", Creative Art, April 1930, pp. 263-265
The artist and designer Elisabeth de Lanux (née Eyre) was born in Johnstown, PA in 1894 into an educated, professional family. Her uncle, Wilson Eyre, was a noted architect working in Philadelphia in the late 19th Century, and her aunt, Luisa Elisabeth Eyre, was a sculptor who studied with Augustus Saint Gaudens. Elisabeth followed in the family's artistic tradition, studying at the Arts Students League in New York in her late teens.
Shortly after meeting the French writer and diplomat Pierre de Lanux in New York, Elisabeth and he were married and in 1918, the couple moved to his native Paris. Pierre was a close friend of Jean Cocteau and had once worked as secretary to Andre Gide. The young couple's entry into Paris artistic and literary society was assured. Among their acquaintances were Picasso, Matisse, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. Whilst pursuing her work as an artist, Elisabeth also wrote a monthly column for Town and Country magazine called "Letters from Elisabeth", which reported to its American audience the heady flavour of life in Paris in the early 1920s.
It was whilst she was researching an article on the new Parisian designers that Elisabeth became acquainted with Eileen Gray and, through her, met Gray's close friend Evelyn Wyld. Elisabeth and Evelyn formed an instant rapport (much to Gray's chagrin) and the two women soon decided to set up a gallery together in the Rue de Visconti, Paris. At this time Elisabeth dropped her first name and henceforth was to use the name Eyre de Lanux professionally through her long career as an artist, designer, and book illustrator. In 1929 Evelyn Wyld and Eyre de Lanux opened a small decorators' gallery Decor in Cannes. From here they collaborated on various exquisite interiors with Eyre producing lacquer furniture, sometimes with the help of Seizo Sugawara, the Japanese lacquer master, who had also taught Eileen Gray. Their few creations were amongst the most refined and elegant produced in the rarefied atmosphere of the Modernist avant garde movement in the late 1920s, rivaling the work of Eileen Gray in their simple sophistication. Eyre's designs were characterized by the combination of pure modernist lines with almost primitive surfaces and colors opposing high lacquer finishes, and Wyld's designs for carpets showed equal minimalism and abstraction. Wyld and de Lanux exhibited to much acclaim at the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs in 1928 and 1930, and at the U.A.M in the same year. Although their shop in Cannes was a short-lived venture, the two continued to produce designs for carpets and lacquer furniture for private commissions.
Eyre de Lanux also found outlets for her creative energy through her drawings and paintings. After studying with Brancusi in the late 1920s, she was inspired to create abstract frescoes and small sculptures (see lots 238-242). A number of such works were included in the 'Thirty One Woman Exhibition' at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery in New York in January 1943.
Eyre returned to America in the 1940s where she continued to paint and experiment with small abstract drawings, design book covers and write short stories which appeared in the New Yorker, Harpers Bazaar and many other publications. Eyre de Lanux died on September 8, 1996.
The artist and designer Elisabeth de Lanux (née Eyre) was born in Johnstown, PA in 1894 into an educated, professional family. Her uncle, Wilson Eyre, was a noted architect working in Philadelphia in the late 19th Century, and her aunt, Luisa Elisabeth Eyre, was a sculptor who studied with Augustus Saint Gaudens. Elisabeth followed in the family's artistic tradition, studying at the Arts Students League in New York in her late teens.
Shortly after meeting the French writer and diplomat Pierre de Lanux in New York, Elisabeth and he were married and in 1918, the couple moved to his native Paris. Pierre was a close friend of Jean Cocteau and had once worked as secretary to Andre Gide. The young couple's entry into Paris artistic and literary society was assured. Among their acquaintances were Picasso, Matisse, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. Whilst pursuing her work as an artist, Elisabeth also wrote a monthly column for Town and Country magazine called "Letters from Elisabeth", which reported to its American audience the heady flavour of life in Paris in the early 1920s.
It was whilst she was researching an article on the new Parisian designers that Elisabeth became acquainted with Eileen Gray and, through her, met Gray's close friend Evelyn Wyld. Elisabeth and Evelyn formed an instant rapport (much to Gray's chagrin) and the two women soon decided to set up a gallery together in the Rue de Visconti, Paris. At this time Elisabeth dropped her first name and henceforth was to use the name Eyre de Lanux professionally through her long career as an artist, designer, and book illustrator. In 1929 Evelyn Wyld and Eyre de Lanux opened a small decorators' gallery Decor in Cannes. From here they collaborated on various exquisite interiors with Eyre producing lacquer furniture, sometimes with the help of Seizo Sugawara, the Japanese lacquer master, who had also taught Eileen Gray. Their few creations were amongst the most refined and elegant produced in the rarefied atmosphere of the Modernist avant garde movement in the late 1920s, rivaling the work of Eileen Gray in their simple sophistication. Eyre's designs were characterized by the combination of pure modernist lines with almost primitive surfaces and colors opposing high lacquer finishes, and Wyld's designs for carpets showed equal minimalism and abstraction. Wyld and de Lanux exhibited to much acclaim at the Salon des Artistes Decorateurs in 1928 and 1930, and at the U.A.M in the same year. Although their shop in Cannes was a short-lived venture, the two continued to produce designs for carpets and lacquer furniture for private commissions.
Eyre de Lanux also found outlets for her creative energy through her drawings and paintings. After studying with Brancusi in the late 1920s, she was inspired to create abstract frescoes and small sculptures (see lots 238-242). A number of such works were included in the 'Thirty One Woman Exhibition' at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery in New York in January 1943.
Eyre returned to America in the 1940s where she continued to paint and experiment with small abstract drawings, design book covers and write short stories which appeared in the New Yorker, Harpers Bazaar and many other publications. Eyre de Lanux died on September 8, 1996.