A NICKEL-PLATED TUBULAR STEEL AND CANE ARMCHAIR AND STOOL

LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE, EXECUTED BY BERLINER METALLGEWERBE JOSEPH MÜLLER, BERLIN, 1930, FOR PHILIP JOHNSON'S NEW YORK APARTMENT, THE CANING BY LILLY REICH

Details

A NICKEL-PLATED TUBULAR STEEL AND CANE ARMCHAIR AND STOOL
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, executed by Berliner Metallgewerbe Joseph Müller, Berlin, 1930, for Philip Johnson's New York apartment, the caning by Lilly Reich
The tubular steel frame with curved armrails, with stained cane seat and armrests; the stool with tubular steel frame and rectangular stained cane seat
the armchair 32in. (81.2cm.) high, the stool 17¾in. (45.5cm.) high, 19¾in. (50.5cm.) wide, 17½in. (44.5cm.) deep (2)

Provenance

Philip Johnson
424 East 52nd Street apartment, bedroom
230 East 49th Street apartment
241 East 49th Street apartment
9 Ash Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Literature

Architectural Forum, December 1943
Arthur Drexler, Mies van der Rohe, 1960, p. 52, pl. 27
Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Architectural Review, "Philip Johnson", April 1955, p. 239, showing these pieces in the courtyard garden of Johnson's Cambridge house.
John M. Jacobus, Jr., Philip Johnson, 1962, p. 49, pl. 1
Hilary Lewis and John O'Connor, Philip Johnson, The Architect in His Own Words, 1994, pp. 18-19, 20-21, 26-27
Elizabeth Mock, Built in The USA-Since 1932, 1945, pp. 46-47
A. James Speyer, Mies van der Rohe, 1968, p. 108

Lot Essay

The armchair and stool appear in the Mies Atelier ledgers for the Johnson project, now in the Mies archives of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. See also Werner Blaser, Mies van der Rohe-Furniture and Interiors, 1982, p. 42, pl. 105, for a period photo showing a chair of this design.