Eileen Gray

Gray was born in 1878, the youngest of five children of a wealthy Scots–Irish family.^1,3 Gray's early work in France was associated with Art Deco.^1,5 The Victoria and Albert Museum describes her work as blending Art Deco tradition with modernist progress.⁵

In 1926, Gray designed the Bibendum chair, a minimalist piece with a white-leather upholstered seat and back on a chrome-finished steel base.¹ Furniture historian Rosa Otero suggests the chair's three tire-like rolls may have evoked the Michelin Company's late 19th-century mascot, and that its form was echoed in the 1967 Blow inflatable armchair by Lomazzi, D'Urbino and De Pas.¹ Otero also notes that the chair was introduced at a time when primarily male designers were authenticating their positions through modern furniture icons.¹ Gray also created an experimental 'S' bend chair.⁵

E.1027, which Gray designed for herself and Jean Badovici, grew from furniture into a building.⁴ In 1938 and 1939, Le Corbusier painted eight murals in E.1027.⁶ Academic Beatriz Colomina argues that Gray developed an aesthetic of desire that radically challenges the modern movement championed by Le Corbusier.⁶

Archival research is said to show that Gray’s colour studies shaped a distinct modern architecture.⁷ From the late 1960s, articles and small exhibitions began Gray's rediscovery.⁴ In 1973, Zeev Aram approached Gray to put her furniture designs, originally made in small quantities, into production.⁴ A reported €5 million plan for the E.1027 site included converting a railway wagon into a ticket office and shop and making another villa into a visitor centre.⁴