Vintage Eames Vitra La Chaise Chair, Original, Fiberglass First Generation, 1992

Charles and Ray designed the iconic “La Chaise” lounge chair for The Museum of Modern Art’s 1948 International Competition for Furniture Design. Its name references both its function as well as Gaston Lachaise’s 1927 sculpture “Floating Figure” (see image 5 courtesy of National Gallery of Australia, Canberra), which was displayed in a retrospective of the artist in 1935 and acquired by MoMA in 1937 and whose shape the Eameses thought would fit the chair perfectly. Ironically the Eames’ had chosen a sculpture that began its life (circa 1921) as the representation of “a figure of a woman on a couch,” which was damaged during an exhibition and then repaired/reworked by the artist in the years following to remove the couch completely. Lachaise developed and enlarged the figure, completing it in 1927. Floating figure was first exhibited in plaster at the Brummer Gallery, New York, in 1928, and was cast in bronze at the end of 1934 for the aforementioned MoMA retrospective in 1935. Comprised of two bonded fiberglass shells, a chromed base, and natural oak feet, the chair exhibits a captivating elegance and allows for a wide range of sitting and reclining positions. Although widely considered to be icon of American Modernism, the Eames’ design might be more aptly described as an early example of Post-Modernism design, as it is rife with irony, a signature of Postmodernist design and theory. Lachaise labored to free the figure from its furniture-support and the Eames’ used that same “floating figure” as inspiration to design a piece of furniture meant to support the human body. They essentially worked to turn the “freed figure” into the sort of support from which it had been freed by Modernism. Lachaise was chopped up into “La Chaise.” The design was meant to win the “International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design” but was so difficult and expensive to produce that, despite extensive efforts to put into production throughout the 1950s, it only went into production in 1991 and at a retail price of around 13,000 USD (equivalent to 1278 USD in 1948 dollars). For context, the median American family income in 1948 was 3200 USD. Vitra began producing La Chaise in extremely limited numbers in 1991 based on the European license and for the European market. This particular piece was acquired by its original owner in 1992 directly from Vitra, retains its original paper label, and is from the first generation of this production. Vitra began selling La Chaise in the American market in 1996. This piece was imported from Europe in 1992. In 2001, Vitra discontinued production of the original design and began making the piece out of polyurethane, a lighter, cheaper, and more durable material. The vast majority of authentic La Chaise’s currently on the market, new and vintage, are of the polyurethane variety, which provides a very different, less sculptural and substantial aesthetic. Measures: Height 34.5″ Width 59″ Depth 34″ Seat height 19.25″. Labelled& dated.