(4) Charles and Ray Eames LCW Bent Molded Plywood Lounge Chairs. From the first of the plywood series, the abbreviated Eames LCW Chair was the Lounge Height (L) Side Chair (C) on Wood (W) Base. Designed by Charles Eames and first manufactured by the Evans Molded Plywood Division, the chair has long since attained status as a classic. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Size: 19 3/4 x 21 x 29 in. 

Charles Ormond Eames Jr. (June 17th, 1907-August 21st, 1978) and Ray-Bernice Alexandra Kaiser Eames (December 15th, 1912-August 21st, 1988) were an American married couple of industrial designers who made significant historical contributions to the development of modern architecture and furniture through the work of the Eames Office. They also worked in the fields of industrial and graphic design, fine art, and film, with Charles acting as the public face of the company and their endeavors despite being mutual creative partners who employed a diverse staff over the years. Charles was born in St. Louis, Missouri and secured an architecture scholarship at Washington University, but his devotion to the practices of Frank Lloyd Wright caused issues with his tutors and he left after just two years of study. Ray was born in Sacramento, California and first focused on painting, becoming a founding member of the American Abstract Artists group in 1937 and studying at May Friend Bennett Women’s College in New York before enrolling at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan to expand her artistic output. Charles arrived at Cranbrook on an industrial design fellowship from famed architect Eliel Saarinen, but soon became an instructor. He and Eliel’s son Eero created the Organic Chair out of plywood, winning first prize in a furniture competition hosted by the Museum of Modern Art. Ray, who was studying under Hans Hofmann, assisted them with the graphic design for their entry, and Eames soon divorced his first wife Catherine Woermann and married Ray in June of 1941. They relocated to Los Angeles, where they opened an office and had their first major success by overcoming the design flaws in the plywood chair that had made it initially unviable for mass production. They expanded to a facility in Venice that lasted for more than four decades (1943-1988), and became a mecca for budding artisans, architects, and craftspeople on the West Coast. Through the years its staff included many notable designers, including Gregory Ain, Don Albinson, Harry Bertoia, Annette Del Zoppo, Peter Jon Pearce, and Deborah Sussman. The Eameses philosophy of “learning by doing” influenced multiple movements in the second half of the 20th Century, as well as their emphasis on lightweight and low cost materials coupled with functionality and longevity. During World War II they invented a wood leg splint for wounded soldiers that provided them enough funding from the U.S. Navy to allow them to experiment at their leisure with furniture designs ever after. In 1949 they were involved in the Case Study House program, eventually designing their own home from the experience that still stands as a milestone of modern architecture known simply as The Eames House. Their most successful furniture piece was the Eames Lounge Chair, which they designed for Herman Miller in 1956, and in the late 1950s they began channeling their separate interests in photography and theater into the production of over 100 short films. Charles died while visiting family in St. Louis, and Ray died ten years later to the day in a hospital in Santa Monica. Their daughter Lucia founded the Eames Foundation in 2004 to preserve and share the legacy of their work, and they are still considered one of the greatest “power couples” in the history of design.

Commensurate with age.