American Design 
29 March 2018
American Design 
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Alexander Girard

mugs from La Fonda del Sol, set of four

Mayer China
USA, c. 1960
glazed porcelain 5 h × 4 w × 3 d in (13 × 10 × 8 cm)
estimate: $700–900
result: $2,500
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Signed with stamped manufacturer's mark to underside of each example: [A La Fonda del Sol Design Mayer China Minners & Co. 4 5 Inc.].
provenance: La Fonda del Sol, New York | Private Collection, New York

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La Fonda del Sol

In 1960, notable textile artist and interior designer Alexander Girard brought to life La Fonda del Sol, a Latin-American-themed restaurant located on the ground floor of the Time & Life Building in New York City. Commissioned by innovative restaurateur Joseph Baum, Girard designed the opulent interior, evocative of a contemporary branded space­, to transport guests to an imagined world through extraordinary decoration and attention to detail.  

La Fonda del Sol was a symbol of Latin America visualized through bold geometric patterns and vibrant color combinations. Girard designed nearly all the visual elements of the restaurant from matchboxes and tableware to menus and typography among many others.

He drew inspiration from personal interest in Latin culture and history, and his passion for the art and ritual of dining. In collaboration with Girard, Charles and Ray Eames designed the La Fonda pedestal chairs for the space with a shorter seat height to allow direct view of the tableware.

The restaurant featured a melding of cultures represented through elements including a Mexican ceramic tile fountain, marble from Cuba, carved wooden doorways from Brazil, and a Pre-Columbian stylized sun motif that hung above the adobe-enclosed cocktail lounge. Objects from his extensive personal collection of Central and South American folk art adorned the walls and he insured great care was taken to represent the cultures with detail and respect.

In 1962, the Architectural League of New York awarded Girard for his execution of La Fonda del Sol. While the restaurant closed nearly a decade later, Alexander Girard continues to be celebrated for his unique design sensibility and the lush, immersive environments he produced.

Interior View of La Fonda Del Sol, 1961, The LIFE Picture Collection,
Getty Images (Photo by Yale Joel/Yale Joels)
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Display shelves with South American Folk Art, La Fonda del Sol restaurant, New York City, 1960, Photo: Louis Reems (Oldham & Coffee)

What I like to call ‘aesthetic functionalism’ is indispensable in any surrounding where the average individual is to live—not like a human machine merely sleeping, eating, drinking—but also seeing, touching and remembering familiar associations; all of which I believe are of far greater importance than our purely practical functions in life.

Alexander Girard

Alexander Girard 1907–1993

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Born in 1907 in New York to an American mother and French-Italian father, Alexander Girard and his family soon moved to Italy where he was raised in a Florentine villa surrounded by art and antiques. As a boy he filled notebooks with creative design sketches displaying an early attention to detail and interest in other cultures even imaging his own country with regional flags and unique symbolism. Inspiration from international folk art became a staple of his artistic legacy as he amassed thousands of artifacts from around the world. Girard studied architecture in Rome, London and New York as his influential and celebrated career began.

Girard designed and directed the groundbreaking show For Modern Living at the Detroit Institute of Fine Arts in 1949, a predecessor to the Good Design shows hosted by the Museum of Modern Art in New York which he eventually participated in and juried. While living in Michigan in 1952, he was hired by friend and collaborator Charles Eames at Herman Miller eventually establishing the company’s textile division as Director of Design until 1973. In addition to his collections of fabric and wallpaper, his “Environment Enrichment Panels” promoted humanization of the corporate workplace and in 1967 he released the “Girard Group” collection of furniture.

Girard applied vibrant color combinations, sensibility for arranging bold patterns, and passion for playful decoration to his work in textiles, interiors, furniture, graphics, communication and corporate design among many other disciplines. Throughout his career he lent his design to private commissions such as the high modernist Irwin Miller House in Columbus, Indiana with architect Eero Saarinen in 1957, the opulent Latin-American-themed restaurant interior of La Fonda del Sol that opened in 1960 inside the New York Time & Life Building, and a corporate redesign of all visual aspects of Braniff International Airways in 1965.

He challenged the modern aesthetic which rejected decoration and instead created a unique balance of craftsmanship and industry, expression and function, past and present. Known for his positive approach and thoughtful manner he elegantly melded different time periods and cultural backgrounds to create a distinct visual language.

Alexander Girard resided in Santa Fe, New Mexico until he died in 1993. His unique aesthetic vision and legacy is honored permanently by the Santa Fe Museum of International Folk Art’s Girard Wing and recently by a major retrospective from the archives at the Vitra Design Museum, Germany in 2016.

Auction Results Alexander Girard

Alexander Girard

Lounge chairs model 66310, pair

estimate: $7,000–9,000

result: $36,400

Alexander Girard

custom mural from the Irwin Union Bank & Trust Company, Columbus, IN

estimate: $5,000–7,000

result: $27,500

Alexander Girard

Custom mural from the Irwin Union Bank & Trust Company, Columbus, IN

estimate: $5,000–7,000

result: $26,000

Alexander Girard

settee for Braniff Airlines

estimate: $8,000–10,000

result: $22,500

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