Eileen Gray

Acquired directly from the artist

J. Stewart Johnson, Eileen Gray: Designer 1879-1976, London, 1979, p. 28
Peter Adam, Eileen Gray: Architect/ Designer, New York, 1987, pp. 144, 334 and 374
Philippe Garner, Eileen Gray: Design and Architecture, 1878-1976, Köln, 1993, pp. 49 and 135
Malcolm Barker and Brenda Richardson, A Grand Design: The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1999, p. 368
Caroline Constant, Eileen Gray, London, 2000, pp. 27 and 102
Charlotte Benton, Tim Benton, and Ghislaine Wood, eds., Art Deco 1910-1939, London, 2003, pp. 74 and 75
François Baudot, Eileen Gray, New York, 2003, pp. 42, 46-47
Galerie Historismus, ed., Eileen Gray: Oeuvres Sur Papier, Antwerp, 2007, pp. 38-43
 

The Screen Maquette: Very good overall condition. There are creases, fold marks and minor edge tears to the surface of the paper as expected from a working design model. The paper surface has a rippled texture from exposure to pigment and glue which was inherent in its making. The maquette has a number of interesting notations and edits inscribed in pencil by the artist. The maquette is lightly attached to a thicker piece of folded card for support. The Carpet Design: The design sheet is formed from 4 sections of paper: 3 border panels and the larger rectangular panel showing the carpet design itself. The paper has some fading and minor darkening due to exposure to light. There is some rippling as expected and a few minor spots. The paper has three pin holes and minor surface abrasions (likely from erasing) which are expected with a design drawing and show the artists hand at work in the process. The design is labeled with the artist's notes in pencil regarding the dimensions and scale of the carpet. Not inspected out of frame.
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This maquette for a screen appears to be the working design for Eileen Gray's eight-panel black lacquer and silver-leaf screen in the permanent collection of The Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  The screen itself was executed during the time that the artist's shop, Jean Desert, was in operation (1922-1930).  The screen was believed to be part of the shop's inventory, which Gray took home when she was forced to shutter her business due to the global economic depression.  The screen remained in Gray's personal collection within her rue de Bonaparte apartment until the time of her death in 1976 and was donated to The Victoria and Albert Museum the following year by her niece Prunella Clough. 

The design drawing for the maritime inspired carpet "Marine d'abord" was executed for her home, E.1027, in Roquebrune-Cap Martin, France.  The rug itself survives and was displayed at the Eileen Gray retrospective held at The Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1980.  Three other renderings of this carpet were recently included in the Eileen Gray: Oeuvres Sur Papier exhibition held at Galerie Historismus, Paris from November 15 to December 21, 2007.

The two designs within this lot are each a quintessential "object as document" showing the artist's struggle with form and space through notations, corrections and painstaking edits. They give a window into the artist's process and provide a greater understanding of her finished work.