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Lot Essay
In 1902, ten years after opening his independent practice in Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to build a house for Mr. and Mrs. Francis W. Little, who would become some of Wright's most important supporters and clients. By this time, Wright had designed more than fifty houses and was considered an important young architect with a distinctive personal style. The Littles were early members of the Art Institute of Chicago, where Wright regularly exhibited his work in the 1890s and 1900s. It was most likely through this association that the Littles met Wright. Francis W. Little was a self-educated lawyer and his wife Mary was a pianist who studied under Franz Liszt. After their marriage, they settled in Peoria and commissioned Wright to build their first house at 1505 Moss Avenue. They would later have Wright design their house in Wayzata, which is considered one of the architectural masterworks of his early period.
Though formal in design and organized symmetrically around a central hall, the Peoria house had modern open spaces and was an advancement, especially in regards to the interior. Wright furnished it completely with custom works, many of which he revisited for the Wayzata house. The Wayzata interiors, including a similar armchair, but with lower back and capped feet, were acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1972.
Wright used variations of the reclining armchair in several of his interiors through the 1910s, including his own Oak Park studio. When designing the chairs for the Littles, Wright employed a more streamlined and open design. Beyond the thin trim that is used on the panels and supports, it is entirely without decoration, save the dynamic graining of the oak and the formation of medullary rays. Raised slightly from the floor by small casters, the chair's structure of three panels with an angled seat back and sliding seat is simple and orderly. The two side and back panels each have horizontal 'windows', or cutouts, not seen on most of the other versions. Further, Wright engineered a simple but sophisticated method of adjusting the seat by connecting it to the angled seat-back, so that it may be adjusted backward or forward for comfort.
Two other armchairs of this model from the Peoria house were sold at Christie's New York on 20 June 1987 and 12 December 1987, lots 83 and 118 respectively. The here offered chairs were acquired by the consignor directly from the then current owner of the house in 1989 and have remained in their collection since. They remain in excellent original condition and are important examples of Wright's early work.
cf. D. Hanks, The Decorative Designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, New York, 1979, pp. 81-81 for a discussion of the furniture from the Francis W. Little Peoria House;
E. Kaufmann, Jr., Frank Lloyd Wright at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bulletin, Fall 1982 for a discussion and illustrations of furniture from the Francis W. Little houses from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art;
T. Eaton, ed., Frank Lloyd Wright: The Seat of Genius Chairs: 1895-1955, West Palm Beach, FL, 1997, p. 40 for an illustration of similar armchairs in the Isabel Roberts House.
Though formal in design and organized symmetrically around a central hall, the Peoria house had modern open spaces and was an advancement, especially in regards to the interior. Wright furnished it completely with custom works, many of which he revisited for the Wayzata house. The Wayzata interiors, including a similar armchair, but with lower back and capped feet, were acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1972.
Wright used variations of the reclining armchair in several of his interiors through the 1910s, including his own Oak Park studio. When designing the chairs for the Littles, Wright employed a more streamlined and open design. Beyond the thin trim that is used on the panels and supports, it is entirely without decoration, save the dynamic graining of the oak and the formation of medullary rays. Raised slightly from the floor by small casters, the chair's structure of three panels with an angled seat back and sliding seat is simple and orderly. The two side and back panels each have horizontal 'windows', or cutouts, not seen on most of the other versions. Further, Wright engineered a simple but sophisticated method of adjusting the seat by connecting it to the angled seat-back, so that it may be adjusted backward or forward for comfort.
Two other armchairs of this model from the Peoria house were sold at Christie's New York on 20 June 1987 and 12 December 1987, lots 83 and 118 respectively. The here offered chairs were acquired by the consignor directly from the then current owner of the house in 1989 and have remained in their collection since. They remain in excellent original condition and are important examples of Wright's early work.
cf. D. Hanks, The Decorative Designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, New York, 1979, pp. 81-81 for a discussion of the furniture from the Francis W. Little Peoria House;
E. Kaufmann, Jr., Frank Lloyd Wright at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bulletin, Fall 1982 for a discussion and illustrations of furniture from the Francis W. Little houses from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art;
T. Eaton, ed., Frank Lloyd Wright: The Seat of Genius Chairs: 1895-1955, West Palm Beach, FL, 1997, p. 40 for an illustration of similar armchairs in the Isabel Roberts House.