DECORATIVE ARTS:
Title: Washington Irving Chair, Executed: Mid Nineteenth Century
Artist: Attributed to William Morris (1834-1896), Nationality: English
Medium: Oak, foam and cloth, Dimensions: 29.5 inches x 26 inches x 42 inches
|  | This chair came from the Washington Irving’s house, Sunnyside. Washington Irving was born in New York City on April 3, 1783. He studied law while traveling through Europe and was received into the bar in 1806, although he never attended college. Irving never became a lawyer, his interest was writing. Two of Irving’s most beloved stories were The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle.
The chair is attributed to William Morris, the nineteenth century artist, writer, and craftsman. In 1861, Morris, along with others, founded Morris, Marshall, and Faulkner, one of the world’s first design firms. Their belief that good design should be essentially simple and available to all, regardless of social standing, as well as their concern for high quality workmanship, became important modern principles.
| Title: Slipper Chair, Executed: c. 1935-40
Artist: Laszlo Gabor (1895-1944), Nationality: Hungarian
Medium: Teak, foam, and cloth, Dimensions: 26 inches x 26 inches x 19.5 inches
|  | The Kaufmann family assisted a number of artists and designers in immigrating to the United States during World War II. The first of these was Hungarian born artist Laszlo Gabor, whom Edgar Kaufmann, jr. had met in Vienna. The family brought him to Pittsburgh in 1935 as the store’s art director. His designs for show windows and in-store displays frequently challenged conventional practice and, occasionally, notions of propriety.
| Title: Reclining Chair, Executed: c. 1936
Artist: Bruno Mathsson (1907-1988), Nationality: Swedish
Medium: Laminated maple and cloth, Dimensions: 31 inches x 20 inches x 38 inches
|  | In his designs, Bruno Mathsson favored natural wood frames, which he bent into organically flowing lines, and upholstered them with tightly woven cloth or leather, which adhered to the shape of the frame. Mathsson’s chairs are earthy, yet elegant, and form fitting with the human anatomy. In 1939, the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York, acquired 20 of Mathsson’s bentwood chairs. Subsequently, Edgar Kaufmann, jr. reproduced a Mathsson chair in a 1950 MOMA publication titled What is Modern Design?
| Title: Earthenware Bowl, Executed: c. 1960
Artists: Otto Natzler (1908- ), Nationality: Austrian
Gertrud Natzler (1908-1971), Nationality: Austrian
Medium: Clay with green glaze, Dimensions: 5.25 inches x 7.75 inches diameter
|  | Over a span of 32 years, Gertrud and Otto Natzler worked in their Los Angeles studio creating one-of-a-kind ceramic vessels. Gertrud was the master at the potter’s wheel. Her delicate touch enabled her to shape airy forms with walls that were eggshell thin. After a bowl, vase, or bottle took shape on Gertrud’s wheel, it passed into Otto’s hands for glazing and firing. Otto is credited with developing more than 2,000 glazes.
| Title: Tiffany Favrile Glass and Bronze Lotus Leaf Lamp, Executed: c.1882-1906
Artists: Tiffany Studios, Nationality: American
Medium: Bronze and Glass, Dimensions: base: 25.75 inches x 9 inches diameter
shade: 5.5 inches x 26.5 inches diameter
|  | Louis Comfort Tiffany was trained as a painter but from 1875, when he established the Louis Company Tiffany Company and Associated Artists, he devoted himself exclusively to the decorative arts. In 1881, he patented his fist glass lustering technique. Favrille glass, the trademark for Tiffany hand made glass resulted from these experiments.
| Title: Savoy Vase, Executed: 1936
Artist: Alvar Aalto (1898-1976), Nationality: Finish
Medium: Glass, Dimensions: 7.5 inches x 6.5 inches
| | Architect, city planner, and designer of furniture, light fittings, textiles, and glass, Alvar Aalto is considered one of the great modern architects. He is responsible for humanizing the International Style through his emphasis on organic forms. The Savoy Vase is named after a Helsinki restaurant here he designed the interior and its furnishings. Perhaps his most famous glass design, it was included in Edgar Kaufmann, jr.’s 1950 Museum of Modern Art, New York, publication What is Modern Design?
| Title: Fireplace Fork, Executed: c.1930
Artist: Samuel Yellin (1885-1940), Nationality: Polish
Medium: Wrought Iron, Dimensions: 55 inches x 5 inches
This fork was originally located in the living room of La Tourelle, the Kaufmann’s house in Pittsburgh.
|  | Title: Candlestick, Executed: c. 1925-1930
Artist: Samuel Yellin (1885-1940), Nationality: Polish
Medium: Wrought Iron, Dimensions: 11.5 inches x 7 inches x 4.5 inches
This candlestick was a gift from Yellin to Liliane Kaufmann.
|  | Samuel Yellin, one of America’s foremost iron artists, was key in bringing wrought iron back into the genre of 20th century decorative arts. Yellin eschewed modern iron working methods, equating them with sham showiness, the by-product of industrialization. All of his pieces were assembled without the aid of arc or acetone welding. Yellin did almost all of the hardware for the Kaufmann’s house in Pittsburgh, La Tourelle.
Yellin’s forge in Philadelphia, still in operation, is run by his granddaughter, Clare Yellin.
| Title: Butterfly Chair, Executed: 1938
Artist: Jorge Ferrari-Hardoy Nationality: Argentinean
Anotinio Bonet
Juan Kurchan
Medium: Metal and Leather, Dimensions: 36 inches x 29.5 inches x 29.5 inches
|  | The idea for the chair came from the Tripolina Campaign Chair used by British officers. Argentine architects Jorge Ferrari-Hardoy, Juan Kurchan, and Antonio Bonet replaced the wood structure with one piece of bent steel, but left the seat as canvas or leather. An example of this chair was in the Museum of Modern Art’s (MOMA), New York, seminal exhibit, The Modern Chair, curated by Edgar Kaufmann, jr. It was also included in Kaufmann’s 1950 MOMA publication What is Modern Design?
| Title: Zuni Polychrome Jar, Executed: c. 1950
Artist/Nationality: Zuni Indians
Medium: Clay, Dimensions: 9.5 inches x 10 inches diameter
|  | Zuni pots tend to be serviceable, but heavy with a coarse surface. Women, employing the coil technique, have always made Zuni pottery. The process of making traditional coiled pottery begins with gathering clay, plants, minerals and shards of broken pottery. The clay is the cleaned and soaked. The old pottery shards are ground down and mixed with the clay. The shards act as a temper to help prevent the pot from shrinking during the drying process. The clay is then rolled and coiled to form a new pot. Once the pot is formed a slip is applied. The pot is then painted and fired.
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