海角大神

Modernist architect and designer Eileen Gray has long been an overlooked figure, despite high-profile commissions in the early part of the 20th century. Gender stereotypes and her own solitary nature contributed to a lack of knowledge about her work.聽

Biographer Peter Adam, who first published 鈥淓ileen Gray: Architect/Designer鈥� in 1987, aimed to correct that oversight. Now the book, which is the go-to source on her life, has been considerably updated and reissued as 鈥淓ileen Gray: Her Life and Work.鈥�

Since the first edition was published, Gray鈥檚 designs have garnered more attention. Her 鈥淒ragons鈥� armchair, which features clawlike, lacquered armrests, and whose owners have included the fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, sold for $28 million in 2009. The chair, completed in 1919, set a record price for a piece of 20th-century furniture.聽

In the book, Adam expounds on Gray with the tenacity of a scholar and the intimacy of a friend. Indeed, the author, who was in contact with Gray from the 1960s until her death in 1976, offers insights that only a close acquaintance could. 鈥淪he felt deeply the spirit of things and objects, reflecting and perfecting them until a chair or a table became the friend of man,鈥� Adam writes, adding that he drew to a large extent on his conversations with her, as well as her correspondence. He also excels in illuminating her sensibility. 鈥淪he believed that art alone is capable of giving us access to the richness of the world in all its most complex dimensions.鈥澛�

Gray was born in Ireland in 1878. Although she benefited from the high social status of her well-off Anglo-Irish family, she received an 鈥渁t best sporadic鈥� education and was reared by 鈥渁 flow of governesses,鈥� Adam writes. Gray eventually charted her own course, declining to marry and instead enrolling in top art schools, including the Acad茅mie Julian in Paris, the city she adopted as her base of operation in 1907. 聽

A pivotal shift occurred when Gray switched from drawing to making works in lacquer. 鈥淸H]er instinct was telling her that she needed to try her hand at something more practical, more useful,鈥� Adam writes. Rugs were added to the artist鈥檚 growing three-dimensional repertoire 鈥� 鈥淭he tangled wools recall the mane of some captive beast,鈥� a critic in L鈥橝mour de l鈥橝rt wrote of her carpets 鈥� as was furniture. Adam describes a table made for collector Jacques Doucet: 鈥渙n the feet were figures of warriors on horse-drawn chariots, and vases, all inspired by Greek motifs.鈥澛�

Yet the designs, whether for furniture or interiors, that best exemplify Gray鈥檚 vision were simultaneously stylish and workaday. 鈥淪he had always liked the notion of a bedroom-cum-living room: a room to rest in, to sleep in, but also a place where one could write a letter or read a book,鈥� Adam writes, referring to the space Gray designed for the XIV Salon des Artistes D茅corateurs.

Gray鈥檚 ambitions came to encompass architecture, and here, too, functionality reigned. Her plans included lines indicating traffic patterns of residents and servants. For her much-admired modernist house E.1027, Gray sought to achieve privacy in its succession of small but unconfining rooms, saying, 鈥淓ven in the smallest house each person must feel alone.鈥� At the same time, she never wasted space: The noted E.1027 table was the ideal bedside stand thanks to its adjustable height. 鈥淭he tea trolley was cork-covered, so as not to wake the sleeper with any clinking,鈥� Adam writes.

Similarly, it is Adam鈥檚 personal touch that gives this book its distinction. Beautifully produced with full-color illustrations of Gray鈥檚 chairs, tables, and lamps, this book will leave readers sharing its author鈥檚 admiration for his subject.