Henry P. Glass
Alternate Version of Folding Chair [Cricket]
Watercolor, pen and ink over lineprint
January 1977
14 x 11 inches

February 16, 2001 – April 21, 2001

The design for a chair has always been the truest test of an architect’s skill. Human scale makes the chair a metaphor: architecture simplified to its most personal form. A chair can also embody the abstraction of a designer’s innermost fantasies.

ArchiTech Gallery has assembled a collection of original chair design drawings and watercolors from the past 150 years: Victorian designs by England’s Owen Jones; Prairie styles from Wright’s cabinetmaker, George M. Niedecken; an extensive exhibition of modernist works from the career of Henry P. Glass, a Chicago legend still designing in the 21st Century. Within this historical context, ArchiTech presents dreamlike drawings by contemporary architects who envision the perfect chair as a wearable suit of clothes, playground equipment, or the place where God would sit.

On Friday, February 16th, ArchiTech presents an exhibition and sale of this remarkable collection. The Perfect Chair will continue at ArchiTech through Saturday, April 21st.

Henry P. Glass The Glass Lounger [Omega] Graphite on trying paper April 1957 11 x 14 inches

Leonid Osseny Chair - Baroque - Europe - XVIII Century Watercolor on paper, 1992 26 x 30 inches