Reclining chair in walnut and walnut veneer; one of only two ever made.

Made by Heinrich Julius Glückert in Darmstadt in 1901.

Height: 80 cm – Width: 79 cm – Depth: 108 cm

History:

Our armchair (one of only two ever made) comes from the house and studio of painter Paul Bürck at the Mathildenhöhe in Darmstadt, designed by Patriz Huber in 1901 for the International Architecture Exhibition. It is clearly a piece of furniture designed for rest and relaxation, rather than a club chair, like the chaise longue, which became popular as a seat in the mid-18th century. The photograph reproduced in the Darmstadt catalogue shows a view of Bürck's studio in the Ernst Ludwig house, with the two armchairs at the back of the corbel, in front of the large windows but turned away from them. Their arrangement suggests that they were used for reading in the daylight. The simple but precious velvet emphasises the exceptional architecture of this chair with all its details: the legs, the interesting arch developed from the armrests have an almost organic shape.

Bibliography:

Alexander Koch – Großherzog Ernst Ludwig und die Ausstellung der Künstlerkolonie in Darmstadt von Mai - Oktober 1901 – Darmstadt, 1901. The two armchairs (including ours) reproduced in a photograph of Paul Bürck's studio in Ernst Ludwig's house on page 148.