Frank Lloyd Wright follow artist
chair for the Larkin Administration Building in Buffalo, New York
chair for the Larkin Administration Building in Buffalo, New York
cast iron, bent steel, leather 37 h × 24¾ w × 20½ d in (94 × 63 × 52 cm)
The Larkin Administration Building of 1904 in Buffalo, New York was one of Frank Lloyd Wright's earliest and most ambitious commissions. The project allowed Wright to pursue his vision of the fully designed work of art, where each element contributed to the project as a whole creating a building directly suited to its purpose as an office building in an urban setting. The structure had a monolithic and shockingly bare appearance created by applying a strict geometry to the external and internal design. Wright was strongly opposed to the unnecessary decoration applied to buildings during the Victorian Era. The clear delineation of form in the spaces and furniture in the Larkin Building would contribute to the efficiency of the company that occupied it. Wright's cavalier approach to design was a catalyst for many young European and American designers who developed what became the International Style and the Modern Movement. The Larkin Office chair presented here is one of only a few remaining artifacts from the building that was tragically demolished in 1950. The perforated grid of the seat back mirrors the open grid plan of the Larkin Building itself. Linear elements in the design of the base extend the linearity found in the masonry detailing of the building. An excellent and rare example of American design by one of its most celebrated contributors. This chair design is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
