Eileen GRAY (1878-1976) Lot n° 8

Modernist console table with a geometrical cut-out top in patinated Oregon pine resting on a chromed metal tube base. Model created around 1935. H: 68 / W: 142 D: 52 cm. Provenance: - Gilles Peyroulet Gallery. - Private collection. Bibliography : Sale Sotheby's Parke Bernet Monaco S.A Collection Eileen Gray furniture, objects and projects of her creation May 25, 1980 Sporting d'Hiver, Monte Carlo under number 274, for the same model of console. A certificate of authenticity from Mr. Gilles Peyroulet, a recognized specialist in the work of Eileen Gray, dated April 7, 2017 will be given to the purchaser. This model of console table was created by Eileen Gray for her villa E-1027 of Roquebrune Cap-Martin then preserved by it in TEMPE A PAILLA and in its apartment of the street Bonaparte. It was sold at the time of the dispersion of the collection Eileen Gray during the vacation operated by Sotheby's Monte Carlo on May 25, 1980 before appearing within various private collections. In this table-console that we present to you one finds the pine of Oregon or Douglas fir is one of the materials preferred by the creator of which it will decline the possibilities with pressed, brushed, cut or tinted wood. This wood will be used as a top for tables and consoles (see for this reason the tables presented pp 314 and 315 of Peter Adam Eileen Gray Leben und Werk, Schirmer/Mosel edition, 2009 which have recourse to the same wood for the top) or in chests of drawers (p. 318 of the same work). The tray is cut out in the form of a geometric figure, as in some of the artist's collages or in some of the compositions on his carpets. The reason for this cutting can be found by analogy with Japanese furniture where this type of tray is used for the practice of ikebana, that is to say, the "art of bringing flowers to life" which is a traditional Japanese art based on floral composition.