Rare Vienna Secession Modern Chairs by Adolf Loos - a Pair

Description

On offer is a rare original paired Fan-Back Chairs designed by Adolf Loos (1870-1933) circa 1908-20s. As part of the … more On offer is a rare original paired Fan-Back Chairs designed by Adolf Loos (1870-1933) circa 1908-20s. As part of the Vienna Secession movement, these chairs display modern silouette emerged from the beginning of the century, a design departure from tradition spearheaded by a group of artists and designers in Vienna including Gustav Klimt, Josef Hoffmann, Otto Wagner and Koloman Moser. Constructed from solid oak, the chairs feature a carved heart-shape seat and a fan-shaped back distinguished by partially overlapping spindles that spray upwardly like a peacock tail. The design is simple yet sophisticated and manages to be functional yet visually interestingly from different angles. The upholstery on these chairs is of a jacquard-like textile in rose red color with lace fringe. This may be original or at least a mindful historical replacement to accentuate the heart-shaped seats. Small in dimensions as they were intended to be used as side chairs, it measures 28.2"h x 14.5"w x 20"d with a seat height of 15.2".
Historical background and literature: first designed for the Beck apartment in 1908, these chairs were subsequently utilized in many other projects by Loos until late 1920s.
Kunstler, Auftraggeber, Produzenten, Wagner, Hoffmann, Loos und das Mobeldesign der Wiener Moderne (bohlau) pages 95 and 102 as shown.
Rukschcio, Schachel, Adolf Loos, p. 107, no. 106, cat. 63 (dining room, Beck apartment); Adolf Loos, Wohnungen, p. 92; Ottillinger, Adolf Loos, p. 39, no. 26 (cf fan-back Windsor chair, c. 1928), p. 147, no. 200 (Vogl apartment).
For a similar chair see lot 75 of sale "Jugendstil and 20th Century Arts and Crafts" Dorotheum on May 30th, 2018. less