Beschreibung:

A pair of cast iron armchairs attributed to Dorothy Draper
American, 1950~s Born to a wealthy and privileged family in 1889, in one of the most exclusive communities in American history, Tuxedo Park, Dorothy Draper was the first to |professionalize| the interior design industry by establishing, in 1923, the first interior design company in the United States, something that until then was unheard of, and also at a time when it was considered daring for a woman to go into business for herself. She revolutionized the concept of |design| by breaking away from the historical |period room| styles that dominated the work of her contemporaries. As an artist she was modern, one of the first decorators of the breed, and a pioneer. She invented |Modern Baroque|, a style that had particular application to large public spaces and modern architecture. She craved public space, the canvas on which she did her most inspired work ( e.g. the restaurant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, nicknamed |The Dorotheum| In her day, Dorothy was the prima donna of the decorating business - her name was synonymous with decorating. She gave decorating advice in her regular column for Good Housekeeping Magazine, designed fabric lines for Schumacher , furniture for Ficks Reed , Heritage and, other than her hotel and restaurant decors, she also designed theaters, department stores, commercial establishments, private corporate offices, the interiors of jet planes Convair & TWA , automobiles (she did a |line| for Packard and Chrysler in the 1950~s - including a pink polka dot truck!) - even packaging for the cosmetics firm of Dorothy Gray - on top of her residential designs for the houses and apartments of prominent and very wealthy society figures. She also designed her very own exclusive fabrics for her clients - such as her Romance & Rhododendrons and Fudge Apron which she used at the Greenbrier. Much of her work survives to this day, in the lobbies of apartment buildings, hotels The Carlyle in New York and Hampshire House until recently and of course, the legendary Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, specifically in The Victorian Writing Room - once called the most photographed room in the United States). A similar set of chairs are illustrated in Modernism magazine, Summer 2008 , page 49 on the terrace of renowned architect Alfred Browning Parker~s house in Florida. Situated on Royal Road, Coconut Grove, the house was selected by House Beautiful magazine as it~s 1954 Pace Setter house.