Week #8
Lounge Chair, “The Morris Chair”
Designer: Gustav Stickley
Year: 1901
Description: oak with leather upholstery
Estimated cost: $10,000 to $45,000+ (for an original)
Why I picked this chair: I was planning on showing a ladderback chair this week, but I couldn’t settle on one that I really liked. I started thinking about design styles that I like, and remembered mission oak style or “Arts and Crafts” style. I did a little research and found out that Gustav Stickley was an early leader/spokesman for the Arts and Crafts movement in America in the early 1900’s. His view of furniture is described in Answers.com as:
all handmade rather than machinemade, crafted to be simple and useful; it was primarily built from native American oak, joinery was exposed, upholstery was carried out with natural materials (canvas and leather), wood could be varnished but never painted, and there were no unnecessary lines.
I think that’s the crux of what I like about not only the “Morris Chair”, but the Arts and Crafts movement, in general: the honest simplicity of the design.
The Morris Chair fits the bill. It is a reclining armchair with an oak body, caned seat with canvas or leather upholstered cushions. It has that great “earthy” feel about it; I think the warm nature of wood and leather contributes to that fact. The hardest part for me in selecting this week’s “Chair of the Week” was deciding which “Morris Chair” by Gustav Stickley that I liked the best.
After searching through a hundred (or more) images, I settled on this one, primarily because of the richness of the dark wood. I also love the wide slats of the arms, the bowed back, the very squared-off legs, and the visible joinery, all of which are characteristic of Stickley’s early work. Even though the leather cushions are old and worn, to me this chair is just remarkably aesthetically pleasing. This Morris Chair (no. 2342, circa 1901-1902) sold at auction for $42,500.
Apparently I’m not the only one who found it appealing.
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