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Spindle Cube Chair

Wooden chair with numerous spindles arranged close together to make a cube.
© 2018 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • Wooden chair with numerous spindles arranged close together to make a cube.

Date:

1902–6

Artist:

Frank Lloyd Wright
American, 1867–1959

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  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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.

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