Very rare highback chair by Hendrik Wouda for Pander & Sons, 1924. One of the signature designs by Hendrik Wouda, also depicted in the most referenced monograph about his life and work (picture included). The shape of the chair with its geometric, modernist design has become one of the most iconic designs by the Dutch Art Deco architect Hendrik Wouda.
The chair is well known from the picture but they hardly ever come on the market apart from one or two in a year. Marked underneath with the metal plate and the Pander stamp.
The chair is in very good condition, professionally restored and re-upholstered in a luxurious seagreen ''Utrecht Velours''. This fabric is very much like the original 1920s fabric in look and feel. The wood has a lovely finish and construction is completely sturdy and stable.
About Hendrik Wouda:
Hendrik Wouda (1885 - 1946) was a Dutch architect, interior designer and furniture designer.
According to Wouda, house interior is an inseparable part of architecture. His furniture is characterized by cubist shapes and clean lines. Wouda designed 'strict' rationalistic furniture, always with a personal signature in his designs.
The style of these chairs is called Haagse School, the style manisfested itself in The Hague during the Interbellum. It was meant to represent a luxurious and modern design style. It reflected the modernist architecture style of the time. Important influences for Wouda were the design ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as Berlage (who he worked for) and the ideas of avant-garde movement ''De Stijl''. All this resulted in modern commercial designs, targeting the upper class clientele.
Wouda was head of (modern) design at the famous furniture firm H. Pander en Zn. His students included Cor Alons and J. Brunott.
Biography
After training at the Academy of Visual Arts and Technical Sciences in Rotterdam and the Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague, Wouda worked from 1910 to 1912 at the Amsterdam office of architect H.P. Berlage, but he didn't enjoy it very much: "My ears were ringing with those heavy arguments and I was caught in obligatory principles" (freely translated).
From 1912 - 1914 he worked in Munich worked for the Pössenbacher Werkstätte for architect Eduard Pfeiffer. There he became acquainted with a much more luxurious and, above all, more commercial modernism than Berlage's strict, principled design.
In 1917 he started working for Pander
Creator
Hendrik Wouda
Design Period
1924
Production Period
1924
Country of Manufacture
Netherlands
Identifying Marks
Yes (metal plate and stamped 'Pander' underneath)
Style
Modernist, Rationalist, Dutch Art Deco, Haagse School
