E 1027
In 2009, a brown leather
armchair standing just
24 inches tall sold at
Christie’s for £19.4 mil-
lion, setting an auction
record for 20th-century
furniture. It had an illus-
trious provenance, hav-
ing sat in the Parisian
drawing room of Yves
Saint Laurent and Pierre
Bergé, but who was the
designer, people asked?
The name was Gray, Ei-
leen Gray – a quizzical
expression remained on
most faces.
They can be forgiven
their ignorance. Eileen
Gray, an Anglo-Irish art-
ist, designer and archi-
tect, is one of the most
influential creatives of
the 20th century, and
yet she remains one of
the most elusive, her
work often attributed to
others. Amid the art and
ideas that exploded in
1920s Paris, she rubbed
shoulders with Gertrude
Stein’s literary stars,
drank cocktails with Dju-
na Barnes’ androgynous
rebels, and talked theo-
ry with Le Corbusier’s
Modernist pioneers, but
never committed to a
particular set.
the seRial Code e 1027 ConCeals a lovestoRy:
e stands foR eileen, 10 and 2 foR the initials
of Jean badoviCi, and 7 foR g as in gRay.
