Eternal Form - A Century of Modern and Contemporary Design
153Σ
Ejner Larsen and Aksel Bender Madsen
Rare ‘Metropolitan’ armchair, model no. 2842/L
- Estimate
- HK$80,000 - 120,000€8,700 - 13,100$10,300 - 15,400
HK$193,750
Lot Details
Brazilian rosewood, leather
79 x 75.7 x 50 cm. (31 1/8 x 29 3/4 x 19 5/8 in.)
Executed by master cabinetmaker Willy Beck and leatherwork by Dahlman, Copenhagen, Denmark. Underside with metal label impressed PRODUCED BY/CABINET-MAKER/WILLY BECK/COPENHAGEN/DENMARK/ARCHITECTS: EJNER LARSEN AND A. BENDER MADSEN and leather impressed DAHLMAN. Designed 1949, executed circa 1961.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
The present model chair was exhibited at the ‘Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild’, Kunstindustrimuseet, 18 September–4 October 1959, Stand 22.
The present lot is Ejner Larsen and Aksel Bender Madsen’s most recognisable design and is emblematic of Scandinavian Design’s “Golden Era” due to its elegant organic form and exceptional craftsmanship. The collaborators originally presented the chair in 1949 at the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibition. In 1959, master cabinetmaker Willy Beck began to produce the chair (of which the present lot is an example) and it was this version of the chair that was included in the critically acclaimed exhibition Art of Denmark at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, hence the chair’s colloquial name. Whereas previous iterations of this chair were more austere in their construction, the present model is much more sculptural, particularly in the hourglass-shaped seat. It is also a rare and especially fine example of this model, as it was made with the most exquisite materials available —rosewood and leather from the famous Danish saddlers Dahlman—and it also has an impressive provenance. Willy Beck, the cabinetmaker, gave the chair to the Danish architect and designer Peter Hvidt in 1961. The chair remained in Hvidt’s family until it was acquired in 2012.
The present lot is Ejner Larsen and Aksel Bender Madsen’s most recognisable design and is emblematic of Scandinavian Design’s “Golden Era” due to its elegant organic form and exceptional craftsmanship. The collaborators originally presented the chair in 1949 at the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibition. In 1959, master cabinetmaker Willy Beck began to produce the chair (of which the present lot is an example) and it was this version of the chair that was included in the critically acclaimed exhibition Art of Denmark at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, hence the chair’s colloquial name. Whereas previous iterations of this chair were more austere in their construction, the present model is much more sculptural, particularly in the hourglass-shaped seat. It is also a rare and especially fine example of this model, as it was made with the most exquisite materials available —rosewood and leather from the famous Danish saddlers Dahlman—and it also has an impressive provenance. Willy Beck, the cabinetmaker, gave the chair to the Danish architect and designer Peter Hvidt in 1961. The chair remained in Hvidt’s family until it was acquired in 2012.
Provenance
Description
Literature