Armchair

Artist Frank Lloyd Wright (American, 1867 - 1959)

Dateca. 1940

MediumCypress and cypress-faced plywood with upholstery

DimensionsOverall: 30 1/2 × 24 3/4 × 26 1/4 inches (77.47 × 62.87 × 66.68 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust (by exchange)

Object number93-12/1

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionArmchair of non-traditional design. Supported by two parallel, vertically oriented wood planks. Planks provide cradle for L-shaped seat and back. Arms attached to back and supported from below by small, vertical planks in the shape of truncated triangles.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

This armchair was part of the furnishings for the house of Clarence Sondern, who hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design his house in Kansas City, which still stands near Roanoke Park. Beginning in the 1930s, Wright developed the concept of Usonia (an abbreviation of United States of North America). As a Usonian house, the Sondern residence exemplifies Wright's interests in producing smaller, more affordable houses by using semi standardized designs and new technologies. Also designed with cost in mind, Usonian furniture, such as this plywood armchair, was simple enough that it could be made inexpensively at the building site or in a carpenter's shop. With more than 100 examples built in the United States, Usonian houses and their integrated furnishings revolutionized American design by providing affordable, avant garde design.

Provenance

Clarence Sondern (1906-1990), Kansas City, c. 1940-1986;

With Fifty/ 50 Gallery, New York 1986-1993;

Sold 20th century Decorative Arts, Sotheby’s, New York, June 10, 1993, lot 277 (armchair) lot 278 (side chair);

Purchased from Sotheby’s by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 1993.

Published References

Henry Russel Hitchcock, In the Nature of Materials: 1887-1941, the Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pierce, 1942), figs. 401-402.

William Allin Stover, The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1978), 279 (repro.).

David Hanks, Frank Lloyd Wright: Preserving an Architectural Heritage (New York, E.P. Dutton, 1989), 106-107.

“ART NOTES,” The Kansas City Star, Sunday December 12, 1993. Pg. L-7. (both chairs illustrated)

Deborah Emont Scott and Marjorie Alexander, eds. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 183 (repro.).

Stephen Rose, “Master Work in Roanoke,” Kansas City Spaces. Vol. 12 no. 11 (Holiday 2014); 100-103, 100 (repro.).

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