Hugo Gorge - Design New York Tuesday, December 12, 2017 | Phillips
  • Literature

    F.A. Breuhaus, "Einst und Jetzt," Innen-Dekoration, January 1923, p. 24 for a similar example

  • Catalogue Essay

    A period photograph of a similar armchair is recorded in the MAK Library and Works on Paper Collection as number KI 16615-3.

    Hugo Gorge belonged to a small group of architects and designers led by Oskar Strnad and Josef Frank who advocated for warm, comfortable homes as a reaction against the rigidly unified interiors of the Wiener Werkstätte. Wiener Wohnkultur (Viennese living or dwelling culture) as the movement came to be known, also offered an alternative to the functionalist modernism of Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Hugo Gorge died in 1934 and the group largely dissolved with the outset of World War II. However the ideals of the Wiener Wohnkultur lived on thanks to Josef Frank, who fled to Sweden, bringing with him the belief in cosy, eclectic interiors that addressed physical and psychological comfort. As the chief designer for Svenskt Tenn in Stockholm, these ideals would ultimately have a major impact on Scandinavian Modernism.

44

Armchair

circa 1923
Walnut, fabric.
45.5 x 25.25 x 29 in. (115.6 x 64.1 x 73.7 cm)
Executed by Kunst und Wohnung R. Lorenz GmbH, Vienna, Austria.

Estimate
$3,000 - 4,000 

Sold for $3,750

Contact Specialist
Cordelia Lembo
Specialist, Head of Sale
+1 212 940 1265

Design

New York Auction 12 December 2017