About this artwork
This elegant spindle cube chair is an early example from Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio. In 1889 Wright built a house for his young family on Forest Avenue in Oak Park, a new suburb just west of Chicago; ten years later, he opened an attached studio and designed it and the home’s interior in accordance with his philosophy of simplicity and integrity of materials. Among his furniture experiments were heavy, solid cube chairs. By the first decade of the twentieth century, Wright had refined his early design into that of this chair, adding spindles, a subtly tapering crest rail, and gently curving leg ends to produce an effect that is equal parts sophistication and simplicity. The spindles themselves were a legacy of William Morris–inspired ladder-back dining chairs, as well as the Arts and Crafts approach of contrasting positive and negative space. This chair was also influenced by the reticulated ceilings and walls of Japanese homes.
-
Status
- On View, Gallery 179
-
Department
- Arts of the Americas
-
Artist
- Frank Lloyd Wright
-
Title
- Spindle Cube Chair
-
Place
- United States (Artist's nationality:)
-
Date
- c. 1902–1906
-
Medium
- Poplar and leather
-
Dimensions
- 73.7 × 73.7 × 73.7 cm (29 × 29 × 29 in.)
-
Credit Line
- Purchased with funds provided by the Antiquarian Society; Roger McCormick Purchase, Alyce and Edwin DeCosta and the Walter E. Heller Foundation, Robert Allerton Purchase Income, Ada Turnbull Hertle, and Mary Waller Langhorne Memorial funds; Robert Allerton Trust; Pauline Seipp Armstrong Fund; Bequest of Ruth Falkenau Fund in memory of her parents; Wendel Fentress Ott Endowment, Bessie Bennett, Elizabeth R. Vaughan, and Gladys N. Anderson funds; Estate of Stacia Fischer; The Goodman Fund; Maurice D. Galleher Endowment; Samuel P. Avery and Charles U. Harris Endowed Acquisition funds; Estate of Cora Abrahamson; Charles R. and Janice Feldstein Endowment Fund for Decorative Arts
-
Reference Number
- 2007.79
-
Copyright
- © 2018 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.