architecture, design & graphics

Greek side chair and Japonesque table, school of Edward William Godwin

The table and chair seen here are both in the style of the English furniture designer E. W. Godwin.

Designed in the 1880s, these objects were revolutionary for their time and are now seen as a precursor to much of twentieth-century design. Godwin set aside the prevailing Victorian love of exuberant naturalistic ornament in favor of a simplicity and lightness of form that was influenced by the rapid industrialization of Western society and by Japanese design.

Still, the actual designs are not as austere as they first appear. The table has a complex arrangement of diagonal braces, and its legs have incised turnings and elegant tapered feet. And while the chair has been reduced to the sparest wood frame with a rush seat, the detailing of the frame is quite complex in its composition of square, circular, and tapered forms.

Modern & Contemporary Art