Pair of Armchairs
JH-517
H. Wegner & J. Hansen

Description

A rare pair of solid Burmese teak chairs designed by Hans Wegner and made by Johannes Hansen circa 1950. The chairs are newly upholstered. An off-white linen canvas covers the underside and backs of the chairs whilst the seats are natural felt. Joining the two fabrics is olive-grey leather piping.

This chair is not only the precursor to many other Wegner pieces (that were produced on a much larger scale) but the armchairs of a plethora of Mid-twentieth century designers -in Denmark and beyond. Erik Lassen was aware and perhaps prophetic of this phenomenon as can be gauged by his comments on visiting the 1951 Cabinet-makers’ Guild Exhibition, Copenhagen, where the chair and other Hansen made Wegner pieces were shown. Lassen wrote that the then 37-year-old Wegner ‘[…] gets better every year, and his influence is felt left, right and centre at the exhibition (D.K.: Erik Lassen). Although these chairs were made to order, by hand, for somebody’s home in Denmark and very few examples were made by Hansen the essence of this design has grown to become the archetypal Mid-20^th Century armchair. The chair’s supremacy and success is down to Wegner and Hansen’s partnership -a designer in symbiosis with a cabinetmaker. Working with Hansen Wegner’s choice of material and balanced and sculptural form becomes more than aesthetically motivated -for example the arms are a shape that increase comfort as well as please the eye.

Specifications