Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) American, (5) Red Mid Century Modern Side Chairs. Suede upholstery with tubular steel legs. Tag on bottom indicates they were distributed by Knoll, one of his longtime partners in design and furniture. 

Condition: Small stain on front of seat of one chair. Slight fading on fabric on all. 

Size: 22 1/2 x 19 1/2 x 31 in. 

Eero Saarinen was born in Hvitträsk (then in the Russian Empire) on August 20th, 1910, to Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen and his second wife, Louise. They migrated to the United States in 1923, and Saarinen grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan where his father taught and was dean of the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He took courses in sculpture and furniture design there and developed a close relationship with fellow students, designers Charles and Ray Eames, and the architect Florence Knoll (née Schust). Saarinen began studies in sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, France, in September 1929. He then went on to study at the Yale School of Architecture, completing his studies in 1934. He subsequently toured Europe and North Africa for two years, as well as working for a time in Helsinki in the office of architect Jarl Eklund, where he supervised the remodeling of the Swedish Theatre. In 1936 he returned to the United States to work in his father’s architectural practice and teach at Cranbrook, and in 1939 he married the sculptor Lilian Swann. They had two children, but their marriage ended in divorce in 1954, the same year he married art critic Aline Bernstein Louchheim, with whom he had a son. He became a naturalized citizen in 1940, and first gained international recognition for his work with the Tulip chair, which he designed for the Knoll furniture company in 1948. That same year he won first prize for his design for the Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri, although his work on it was not completed until the mid 1960s. He continued to work with Knoll regularly even after his father’s death in 1950, at which time their firm, Saarinen, Swanson, and Associates was taken over by Robert Swanson and moved to Hamden, Connecticut. His Womb chair and Pedestal Group were as successful as the Tulip chair, and he was extremely instrumental in pushing design as a whole in the United States and abroad into more minimalist and rationalist modes. He designed buildings for schools and colleges like Brandeis, Yale, and MIT, and headquarters for many major corporations including John Deere, IBM, and CBS. He selected the design for the Sydney Opera House while on the commission in 1957, and through his own architect firm Eero Saarinen and Associates he carried out some of the most recognizable works of the mid 20th Century, including the iconic TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport. His usage of catenary curves in almost all of these designs was considered revolutionary, and a pivotal influence on future architectural firms. Saarinen was recruited by Donal McLaughlin, an architectural school friend from his Yale days, to join the military service in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and drew illustrations for bomb disassembly manuals as well as designing the Situation Room in the White House. He was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1952, and a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1954. Tragically, Saarinen died on September 1st, 1961, at the age of 51 while undergoing an operation in Ann Arbor, Michigan for a brain tumor. Today Saarinen is considered one of the masters of American 20th Century architecture, the subject of many books, television programs, and major exhibitions in his lifetime. His works are highly sought by collectors and celebrities alike for their timelessness, innovation, and tremendous quality and durability.

Small stain on front of seat of one chair. Slight fading on fabric on all.