A pear wood and leather art nouveau high backed side chair from the dining room of the Hotel Guimard. This chair is designed with a pear wood high curved backpanel that rounds off at its ends with irregular open shaped “handles” that maintain an abstracted motif that reference the movements and processes of nature. The handles are embellshed with tiny arabesque carvings. Below the wooden panel is a an attenuated pear like shaped designed leather upholstered back which is outlined in brass beading in oval and rounded shapes. On either side are slightly open slats that attach to the back of the seat. The seat is leather and also surrounded with brass beading at the edging. There is a small curved wooden apron and the legs are splay out and end with feet that are adorned with vegetal designs. The seat is of a mustard brown color and it shows much wear. This chair was part of a room that was designed in a most comprehensive expression of art nouveau.

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Object Timeline

1912	Work on this object began.
1948	We acquired this object.
1970	We photographed this object. We photographed this object. We photographed this object.
2001	We photographed this object. We photographed this object. We photographed this object.
2015	We photographed this object.
2022	We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

Side Chair, from the Dining Room of the Hôtel Guimard, Paris, France Chair

This is a chair. It was designed by Hector Guimard. It is dated ca. 1912 and we acquired it in 1948. Its medium is pearwood, leather, brass. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Throughout his career, Hector Guimard, a master of the art nouveau style, was interested in creating Gesamtkunstwerks, or total works of art, where a building’s exterior, interior details, furnishings, and decor harmonized. This side chair is from a suite of dining room furniture in the Paris home Hector Guimard designed in 1909 to share with his new wife, Adeline Oppenheim. It is likely that this chair originally had leather upholstery with embossed curving designs near the material’s edges—playing off of other details in the room—and an intertwined G and O (for Guimard and Oppenheim) monogram. His earlier preference for mahogany and other dark woods evolved into one for lighter fruitwoods—here pearwood—which have a sensual, calming feel. The energy and tension typical of the designer’s work is not lost, however. The chair’s back “handles” maintain an abstracted motif that references the movements and processes of nature—forms that could also be found in the dining room’s buffet, table, and other furnishings. This house is considered one of his most comprehensive expressions of Art Nouveau style.

This object was donated by Madame Hector Guimard. It is credited Gift of Mme. Hector Guimard.

Buckle (France)
gold, opals, pearls, garnets.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Maxime Hermanos.
1967-88-3

A chair formed from long, curved, pale, ash wood elements with a sinuous, ribbon-like back and an elongated triangular seat, which descends into three tapering legs at each point of the triangle. The seat has three curved insets which are covered in cream suede.

Enignum Chair Model (two Seater)
bent layered ash wood strips, suede upholstery.
Gift of Joseph Walsh.
2015-39-2

A chair formed from long, curved, olive ash wood, with an S-shaped back that grows from and merges into an elliptical form with two, tapering legs descending from the left and right edges. Four green suede-upholseted tubular segments form the basis of the seat.

Enignum Free Form Chair
olive ash wood stripped into thin layers, then manipulated and reconstructed,....
Gift of Joseph Walsh.
2015-39-1

Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.

A pencil on paper sketch illustrating two roughly drawn eliptical forms, one above another, as a prepartatory for a chair design. The top form takes the shape of an elongated bean with sinuous lines forming stripes across it, and the right and left-most cuves accentuated with longer arcs. The bottom form has a horizontal teardrop shape, bulbous on the left side drawn to a fine point on the right side, with four legs protruding from it, two from the bulbous left and two on the right, one in an arc over the point, the other from the center-right forming a triangular shape. in the bottom right corner, the artist's initials [JW] are drawn in script.

Drawing, Preparatory Sketch for Enignum Free Form Chair
graphite on white wove paper.
Gift of Joseph Walsh.
2015-39-4

A model for a low two-seater sofa is made of natural light ash wood whose frame is a contiguous curved form connecting its back to its three legs and base with no apparent breaks. It has a beige suede textile covering its tight upholstered seat with several subtle folds/tucks on the surface mimicking the wavy shape of the overall wood frame design. A single plank of arched smooth wood forms one front leg continuing and bending gracefully like a ribbon to establish a low open back and extends on a slope to become the second front leg. There is a solitary leg in the rear. When facing the model (piece of furniture), the front is angled and oblong in length. A technique of splitting the wood into thin long slices and then bending it gives some insight into designer’s process of using multiple layers to create the sinuous skeletal frame-like structure. Aptly named Enignum ,a play on the word enigma—mysterious, puzzling, leaves the observer questioning how this unique piece was made

Enignum Chair Model (two Seater)
bent layered ash wood strips, suede upholstery.
Gift of Joseph Walsh.
2015-39-3

Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 113.5 x 46 x 48 cm (44 11/16 x 18 1/8 x 18 7/8 in.)

Cite this object as

Side Chair, from the Dining Room of the Hôtel Guimard, Paris, France Chair; Designed by Hector Guimard ((French, 1867–1942)); France; pearwood, leather, brass; H x W x D: 113.5 x 46 x 48 cm (44 11/16 x 18 1/8 x 18 7/8 in.); Gift of Mme. Hector Guimard; 1948-114-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Hector Guimard.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2Dnop/
Accession Number 1948-114-1
Object ID 18607583