Design

Influenced by the Art Deco style, Japanese art and design, and 1920s functionalism, Eileen Gray (1878 – 1976) is one of the most intriguing designers of the 20th century. Largely unrecognised in her own lifetime, today she is considered a pioneer of the Modernist movement, known for her remarkably bold furniture designs and architecture. Irish born Gray moved to Paris in 1902 where she spent most of her life as a designer. It was there that she established her reputation as a successful practitioner of lacquer work, having studied and worked with Japanese lacquer master and sculptor Seizo Sugawara (1884 – 1937) with whom she opened a studio in 1910. This design for a six-panel lacquer screen

Design · France · early 1920s. Pencil, chalk, India ink and Chinese white. By Gray, Eileen. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.