Design 
26 March 2015
Design 
419

Tom Sachs

Bitch Lounge

USA, 1999
leather, chrome-plated steel 24½ h × 24½ w × 36 d in (62 × 62 × 91 cm)
estimate: $5,000–7,000
follow artist
own a similar item?
free evaluation

This work is one of two examples produced by Tim Gleason for Nest Magazine. Incised manufacturer's mark to leg: [TWG 7-99].
provenance: Collection of the artist | Sotheby's, New York, Important 20th Century Design, 12 December 2003, Lot 728 | Private collection
exhibited: Bitch Lounge and Quarter Screws, 1 January - 28 February 2001, A/D Gallery, New York | Design ≠ Art: Functional Objects from Donald Judd to Rachel Whiteread, 10 September 2004 - 27 February 2005, Copper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York
literature: Bitch Lounge, Skoggard, Nest 1999-2000, ppg. 109-113 illustrates this work Design ≠ Art: Functional Objects from Donald Judd to Rachel Whiteread, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum exhibition catalog, figs. 125, 128 illustrate this work

print

Design ≠ Art

Tom Sachs' Bitch Lounge

In 1999, Tom Sachs designed and produced the Bitch Lounge in collaboration with Nest Magazine. Though the form is inspired by the works of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Florence Knoll, the functionality of Sachs' creation is difficult to pin down. Falling somewhere between a chaise and a bed, the Bitch Lounge invites the user to reconsider how one sits. 

Sachs’ Bitch Lounge also defies clear categorization when it comes to understanding it as a work or art or a work of design. This ambiguity led to its inclusion in the Cooper-Hewitt 2004 exhibition <i>Design ≠ Art: Functional Objects from Donald Judd to Rachel Whiteread</i> where the curators explored the distinctions, if any, between fine and applied arts.  

419