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Sa lá atá iniu ann, aithnítear Eileen Gray mar dhuine de na hailtirí agus dearthóir troscáin is nualaí agus is suimiúla ar domhan. (Continue reading in Irish) Today, Eileen Gray, the Irish-born architect and furniture maker is held aloft as one of the most innovative designers of her time. Her secretive personal life means that she is an enigmatic figure about whom our knowledge is often limited. Her stark modern designs and mastery of the ancient Japanese craft of lacquer work, cements her legacy as one of the foremost female designers in history who achieved international acclaim in an often male-dominated sphere. Eileen Gray was born to an affluent Anglo-Irish family in Brownswood, Co. Wexford in 1878. Although her mother Eveleen Pounden came from aristocracy, she decided to buck tradition and marry a middle-class artist. Eveleen’s rejection of convention was passed onto Eileen and it became a prominent feature of her personal life, as she had numerous relationships with both men and women. Like many wealthy women of the period, Eileen studied at the Slade School of Art in London while living in South Kensington, but she found herself bored by painting and drawing classes. Her introduction to lacquer work at the Victoria and Albert museum was a formative early experience that would lead to her future success. Her artistic training continued in Paris when she moved there in 1902 with two friends. It was only when Eileen moved back to South Kensington to be with her ailing mother that she stumbled upon the lacquer workshop of Mr. D. Charles in Soho. Here, she watched him at work and was given Parisian lacquer contact details. Upon her return to Paris, she began a four-year long collaboration with a Japanese lacquer artist named Seizo Sugawara. 1913 was an important year for Eileen as she exhibited lacquer work at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs and was commissioned by her first significant client, Jacques Doucet. Although the breakout of war forced Eileen to return to England for a time accompanied by Sugawara, in 1917 they returned to Paris and were commissioned by Madame Mathieu-Levy to decorate an apartment on the Rue du Lota. Here she hand crafted most of the furniture and designed panels and carpets. This included the now famous Bibendum lounge chair, consisting of two padded tubes encased in soft leather. The predominant material used to decorate the apartment was lacquer, for example, the walls of the entrance hall were lined with hundreds of small lacquered panels from which she was to develop her much revered design, the Block Screen. A friendship with the architecture critic Jean Badovici, led to the collaborative opening of the Galerie Jean Désert in 1922, an exhibition space and shop. While England and America had a number of female decorators, Eileen was alone in the male-dominated world of Parisian design. In 1923, she created a Bedroom-Boudoir for Monte-Carlo, to be exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs. In 1926 the Maharaja of Indore purchased two Transat chairs that Eileen had initially designed for a new architectural project, the E-1027 house in Rochebrune, now declared a National Monument by the French government. In 1926 she began construction of this house for Badovici on a steep cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. This home has been described as a truly modern architectural model. Its open plan was achieved by the use of both fixed walls and moving screens. Architecture and furniture interacted harmoniously as she cleaved to a logical organization of space. Innovative furniture included her E-1027 bedside table created with steel tubing that could be raised or lowered to a desired height. Much of the furniture in the house could in fact rotate, pivot or bend for ease of use and she used lacquer extensively. During her lifetime E-1027 received little praise, but today it is considered a classic structure in modern architecture, created, incredibly, by a designer with no formal training. She designed a home for herself at Tempe à Pailla in 1932, but World War II forced her to move inland for safety. This period of isolation led to her becoming a recluse, a status she maintained until her death. Upon returning to Tempe à Pailla she found it looted, along with her flat in Saint Tropez which housed much of her work. Devastated by this, her work during the war was limited. In 1954 she began to construct her third house, Lou Perou near Saint Tropez but shied away from the public eye completely. She lived in her apartment on the rue Bonaparte and continued to design, her work slowly being appreciated via a number of exhibitions in the 1970s. Her death in 1976 was deemed worthy of a French national radio announcement, as the world began to realize what a talent it had lost. Today, both Ireland and France have made steps to recognize the genius of Eileen Gray. At home, an exhibition in the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks tells the story of her life through examples of her work. These items were acquired from her Parisian apartment upon her death. More recently, a retrospective exhibition at the Centre de Georges Pompidou in Paris highlights her artistic innovation by displaying previously unseen works. This exhibition was opened by President Michael D. Higgins in February of this year and will run until May. In his words, this exhibition provides the intense acclaim that this “magnificent and evocative” Irish designer never fully gained during her lifetime. Ella Hassett
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Sa lá atá iniu ann, aithnítear Eileen Gray mar dhuine de na hailtirí agus dearthóir troscáin is nualaí agus is suimiúla ar domhan. Chruthaigh sí dearaí nua-aimseartha leis an sean-cheardaíocht laicear, teicníc ón tSeapáin, agus mar sin is í Eileen Gray duine de na dearthóirí is tábhachtaí, chomh maith le bean Éireannach a bhain clú idirnáisiúnta amach in earnáil a bhíodh lán le fir. Mar gheall ar an gcaoi go raibh sí rúnda agus príomháideach, tá an t-eolas atá againn ar a saol teoranta go maith. Rugadh agus tógadh Kathleen Eileen Moray Gray, nó Eileen Gray inniú, i mBrownswood, Co. Loch Garman i 1878. B'as clann shaibhir Angla-Éireannach í. Duine uasaicmeach ab ea a máthair Eveleen Pound, ach phós sí ealaíontóir méanaicmeach in aghaidh nós an lae. Shocraigh Eileen traidisiún a dhiúltú ina saol féin chomh maith, agus caidrimh aici le fir agus mná. Cosúil le cailíní saibhre ag an am sin, rinne Eileen staidéar i scoil ealaíne Slade i Londain agus í ina cónaí lena clann i South Kensington. Ghlac sí páirt i ranganna ealaíne, ach cheap sí go raibh siad leadránach. Chonaic sí ealaín laicir don chéad uair sa mhúsaum Victoria is Albert, rud a chuaigh i bhfeidhm go mór uirthi agus sheasfadh léi amach ina saol. Lean sí ar aghaidh ag staidéar ealaíne i bPáras nuair a bhog sí ann le beirt chara i 1902. Nuair a bhí a máthair tinn, bhog sí ar ais go South Kensington agus bhuail sí le D. Charles, ealaíontóir laicir i Soho. Ina cheardlann, chonaic sí Charles ag obair agus thug sé eolas di maidir le hobair laicir i bPáras. Chuaigh sí go Páras arís agus d’oibrigh sí le healaíontóir laicir darbh ainm Seizo Sugawara. Bliain an-tábhachtach í 1913 d’Eileen, mar chuir sí a saothar laicir ar taispeáint sa Salon des Artistes Decorateurs, agus d’oibrigh sí lena cliant flúirs, Jacques Doucet, den chéad uair. D’fhan Eileen agus Sugawara i Sasana i rith an Chéad Chogadh Domhanda, ach chuaigh siad ar ais go Páras chun obair a dhéanamh in árasán Madame Mathieu-Levy, ar an tSráid du Lota. Chruthaigh Eileen troscáin lámhdhéanta, chomh maith le cáirpéid agus painéil. Maidir le troscáin, chruthaigh sí an cathaoir Bibendum, déanta le dhá fheadán leathair. Bhain sí usáid fhairsing as laicear san árasán, mar shampla, chuir sí cúpla céad painéal laicir ar na ballaí sa halla. D’úsáid sí na painéil sin mar spreagadh nuair a dhear sí an ‘foscadh Block’. Óna cairdeas leis an ailtire, Jean Badovici, d'oscail sí siopa Galerie de Jean Désert i 1922. Ag an am sin bhí cúpla dearthóir ban i Sasana agus sna Stáit Aontaithe, ach bhí Eileen ina aonar I meas na bhfear i bPáras. I 1923, chruthaigh sí ‘Bedroom-Boudoir’ do Monte-Carlo agus cuireadh ar taispeáint é sa Salon des Artistes Décorateurs. I 1926, cheannaigh an Majaraja ón Indore dhá chathaoir Transat léi, cathaoireacha a chruthaigh sí do thionscadal nua, an foirgneamh E-1027 i Rochebrune, áit a bhfuil ina shéadchomhartha náisiúnta inniu. I 1926 thosaigh sí ar an teach E-1027 a thógáil do Badovici ar aill ghéar ag breathnú amach ar an Méanmhuir. Teach nua-aimseartha é E-1027, múnla ailtireachta den scoth. Bhain sí úsáid as ballaí suite chomh maith le foscaí luaileach. Réitigh an t-ailtireacht agus an troscán le chéile mar d’eagraigh Eileen spás ar mhodh loighciúil. Is beag moladh a fuair E-1027 i rith a saoil, ach anois aithnítear é mar shárshampla d'ailtireacht nua-aimseartha, éacht iontach ag deartháir nach raibh aon oiliúint fhoirmeálta aici. Dhear Eileen teach di féin i Tempe a Pailla i 1932, ach b'éigean di bogadh intíre mar gheall ar an Dara Cogadh Domhanda. Ba é toradh na tréimhse sin a chaith sí scartha amach ón tsochaí ná go raibh Eileen ina díthreabhach as sin go dtí lá a báis. Nuair a chuaigh sí ar ais chuig Tempe a Paille, bhí an teach scriosta, cosúil leis a teach i St. Tropez, áit a raibh a saothar faoi stór. Bhí sí croíbhriste agus mar sin ní dhearna sí obair san am sin. I 1954, thosaigh sí ag tógáil teach nua di féin i Lou Perou in aice le St. Tropez, ach d’fhan sí as an spotsolas. Lean sí ar aghaidh ag dearadh ina hárasán ar an tSráid Bonaparte go dtí go bhfuair sí bás i 1976. Fógraíodh a bás ar an raidió náisiúnta sa Fhrainc mar thuig an tír, agus an domhan, go raibh bean le tallann iontach caillte. Faoi láthair, tá an Fhrainc agus Éire ag obair le chéile chun sárintleacht Eileen Gray a chur chun cinn. In Éirinn, tá taispeántas seasta in Árd-Mhusaum Dún Uí Choileáin ina bhfuil scéal Eileen le fáil, chomh maith le samplaí dá saothar. Fuair an músaem an saothar óna hárasán i bPáras nuair a fuair sí bás. Le déanaí, cuireadh taispéantas iardhearcadh ar bun san Ionad Georges Pompidou i bPáras, ina bhfuil saothar nach raibh ar taispeáint roimhe seo le feiceáil. D’oscail an t-Úachtarán Mícheál D. Ó hUiginn an taispeántas nua i mí Fheabhra agus beidh sé seo ar oscailt go dtí mí Bealtaine. Mar a dúirt an t-Úachtarán, tugann an taispeántas sin aitheantas di nach bhfuair sí i rith a saoil. Ella Ní Haiséid You can read this article in English here.