Eileen Gray: A Life

Eileen Gray was one of the most important furniture designers and architects on the early 20th century and most influential woman in those fields. Her work inspired by modernism and Art Deco. In 1917, the British Vogue magazine said that Miss Gray was influenced by the modernists and that "she stands alone, unique, the champion of a singularly free method of expression´´. During her career she wanted to stand alone as an artist, as a furniture designer and finally as an architect. Her design style was distinctive, it was opulent, luxurious and produced with materials used by the International style and recognized designers such as Le Corbusier, Charlotter Perriand and Miles Van Der Rohe.

She was denied to access artists networks as they were controlled by males. However, she took advantage of working with powerful males as mentors, such as Perriand, Le Corbusier, then Jean Prouvé or Van Der Rohe. She was the youngest of five children in a wealthy Scottish family. Born in 1878 in Ireland her childhood was divided between Ireland and London. She enrolled at the Slade School of Art in London to study painting. In 1890, she moves to Paris and continues her studies at the Academie Julian and the École Colarossi. Due to her mothers illness, she returns to London in 1905 finding drawing and painting less interesting. She returned to Paris in 1906 and was obsessed by the art of lacquer. There she was introduced to this technique by a young lacquer craftsman. In 1907, Gray moves to 21 rue Bonaparte where she would live and wok.

After four years of lacquer studying, she contracted the ´´lacquer disease on her hands´´. She refined her technique to create forms with simple geometric decorations. In 1913, she showed some decorative works in the Salon des Artiste Décorateurs, attracting the attention of the Duchess of Clermont, who commissioned several pieces of lacquer work.

During WW2, she returned to London. There, Gray designs lamps for apartments and rugs using her favorite geometric patters. In 1992 she opens a GalleryShe attracting a chic clientele and her contributions were praised by exhibitors such as Le Corbusier. After that, she decided to concentrate on architecture. She constructed the E 1027 house near Monaco and designed the furniture for it. In 1937 she accepted an invitation from Le Corbusier to participate in 1937 Paris Exhibition. Many people she said that her relation with Le Corbusier went beyond the professional level.

After WW2, she discovered that the flat where she had stored her possessions had been blown up. She returned to Paris and was forgotten by the design and architecture establishment. In 1972, the interest in Gray is enhanced by an auction in Paris and in 1976 she dies.