OBJECTS OF DESIRE: Eileen Gray, a designer with moxie

I was recently looking at some of the articles I wrote for

the late, great Modernism magazine, and came across this one

about Irish/French design giant Eileen Gray. After being inspired to 
reorganize some of our living room furniture, I thought 
I'd post the article on Mad for Mod.

Here's the beginning of

Eileen Gray, from Shadow to Light

© 2011 Judy Polan

"Free-spirited, bold and enigmatic Irish designer Eileen Gray (1878–1976), was an inspirational figure to the Art Deco and modernist movements. “C’est absurde!”, she would often say about the dramatic rise, fall and eventual rebirth of public admiration for her singular artistry. As a woman struggling to build a career in a man’s world, an Irishwoman living in France, an aristocrat moving in bohemian circles and a natural rebel who was nonetheless demure and retiring, she was unselfconsciously at ease being the “other.”

It mattered not to her whether her pioneering designs in lacquer, furniture and architecture were celebrated by the likes of Vogue magazine: “She stands alone, unique, the champion of an unusually free method of expression”; or famed French architect René Herbst: he called her “the most gifted of our generation”; or essentially forgotten, as they were by the 1940s, a time when the contributions of female artists were regarded dismissively ..."

A link to the full article is here.

Enjoy! 

 Above: E.G.'s iconic E1027 side table

next to her Bibendum chair, a

"pop art take" on the Michelin Man

Below: Rue de Lota apartment designed by Eileen Gray

c. 1920 

Below: Bleu Marine rug, c. 1925

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