Provenance
William A.M. Burden, Northeast Harbor, Maine, 1947
Thence by descent
Christie’s, New York, June 5, 2007, lot 114
Gabrielle and Michael Boyd
Sotheby’s, New York, "Important 20th Century Design," December 15, 2011, lot 127
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Literature
"The William A.M. Burden House," House & Garden, February, 1948, pp. 51-55 for a discussion and images of the Burden residence
“People and Ideas: Three Island Houses at Mount Desert, Maine,” Vogue, August, 1948, pp. 164-65 for images of the Burden residence
"Isamu Noguchi on the Expanding Potential of Sculpture," Interiors, March 1949, p. 122 for the plaster maquette
"House: Northeast Harbor, Maine, Harrison, Fouilhoux & Abramovitz architects," Progressive Architecture, April, 1950, illustrated p. 70
Isamu Noguchi: A Sculptor's World, New York, 1968, pl. 191 for the plaster maquette
Garrett White, Genevieve Cortinovis and Amanda Thorpe, Design: Isamu Noguchi and Isamu Kenmochi, New York, 2007, p. 27 for the plaster maquette
Catalogue Essay
The present chair is listed as artwork number 281-4 in The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné.

The Burden Chair
By James Zemaitis

The summer residence in Northeast Harbor, Maine of William A.M. Burden and his wife, Margaret Livingston Partridge Burden, designed by Wallace K. Harrison with interior design contributions by Isamu Noguchi, is a seaside modernist masterpiece. The interior and exterior walls, floors and furniture mirrored the coastline and ocean waves, and period photographs show expanses of stunning whitewashed knotty pine board-and-batten hung with modernist paintings of lighthouses and rocky coasts, serving as a backdrop for Noguchi's carved built-in and freestanding furniture. Never before had architect and artist so successfully married the International Style with the rusticity and geography of a vacation retreat by the sea.

Among Noguchi's original designs for the house were a built-in desk for the master bedroom, andirons for two fireplaces, and in the dining area, a majestic sculptural table and set of dining chairs. In late 1946, Noguchi created an initial maquette for the dining table and a single dining chair (later illustrated in an article on his work in the 1949 Interiors), and sent an invoice to the architects on December 1st for the design. One of Harrison's colleagues passed the bill on to Burden with the comment "Enclosed is Noguchi's bill which is fair enough. I would suggest, however, that you delay payment a bit until we are convinced that the chairs are practical to build and until we have had Noguchi make any minor changes in the design that you may want him to make."

Throughout the spring of 1947, Noguchi made several trips to Maine to oversee the execution on site of the furniture, and one undated invoice from this period includes a line item expense for "chair enlargement and changes in plaster. 4 days @ $35." In a letter dated May 9th, Noguchi sent a letter to Burden stating that "I have just returned from Maine where I saw to the carving of your table. Everything was done that is necessary for the finishing up to and including the first sanding and the insertion of the legs which I had made out of aluminum (sic) with gold anodic treatment. This last will assure its not tarnishing and the chair legs will match with the same light material." Reading through the documentation, it is remarkable to witness Noguchi’s insecurity about his position as a contractor for hire. The artist as furniture designer openly expresses his discomfort with how much he should be paid for his time and services.

However, at some point during this period, while the present lot, a working prototype of the chair was fully realized, it would be rejected by the Burdens as not being suitable for everyday dining use, and they instead opted to acquire a set of DCMs by Charles and Ray Eames to go around Noguchi's finished dining table. As illustrated in both the April 1950 Progressive Architecture as well as in a spiral-bound scrapbook of photographs of the house and family, offered together with the present lot, the chair was placed in one of the bedrooms facing the ocean.

Completed in 1947 by the firm Harrison, Fouilhoux & Abramovitz, the house was destroyed by fire in 1999, and rebuilt by the family in 2006. Only this chair, which had been moved to a storage shed, and a single pair of andirons survived.

Although the global influence of the fiberglass shells of Charles and Ray Eames is frequently cited when discussing the great Danish chair designs of the 1950s, one cannot help but wonder if the appearance of Noguchi’s chair in two major architectural publications with an international audience played any role in the early three-legged chair experiments of Poul Kjærholm, especially the upholstered and aluminum prototypes he exhibited in 1953, or in Arne Jacobsen’s furniture designs for the SAS Hotel, in particular the “Drop” chair.

Property from a Private Collection

410

Isamu Noguchi

Prototype chair, for William A.M. Burden, Northeast Harbor, Maine

1947
Burlap-covered steel, copper.
28 x 20 3/4 x 25 in. (71.1 x 52.7 x 63.5 cm)
Together with original and period copies of Noguchi's and Burden's correspondence between 1946 and 1948, and an undated volume of photographs of the Burden residence in Northeast Harbor.

Estimate
$200,000 - 300,000

Sold for $225,000

Contact Specialist
Cordelia Lembo
Specialist, Head of Sale
+1 212 940 1265

Design Evening Sale

New York Auction 13 December 2016

401
Carlo Scarpa
Rare ceiling light, model no. 5283
Estimate $25,000 - 30,000
Sold for $37,500
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402
Gio Ponti
Prototype teapot
Estimate $10,000 - 15,000
Sold for $70,000
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403
Gio Ponti
Unique tiered coffee table
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $60,000
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404
Lucie Rie
Flaring footed bowl
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $212,500
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405
Gino Sarfatti
Early ceiling light, model no. S 00106
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $175,000
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406
Jean Royère
Pair of "Ours Polaire" armchairs
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $370,000
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407
Jean Royère
"Ours Polaire" sofa
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $358,000
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408
Diego Giacometti
“Guéridon-arbre au hibou”
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $370,000
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409
Georges Jouve
Table lamp
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $37,500
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410
Isamu Noguchi
Prototype chair, for William A.M. Burden, Northeast Harbor, Maine
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $225,000
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411
Charlotte Perriand
Rare low table
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $125,000
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412
Serge Mouille
Three-armed floor lamp, for the Compagnie Des Arts Français
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $106,250
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413
Poul Kjærholm
Rare daybed, model no. PK 80A
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
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414
Harry Bertoia
Sunburst sculpture
Estimate $25,000 - 35,000
Sold for $68,750
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415
George Nakashima
Rare coffee table with special early variant Minguren base
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
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416
Lucie Rie
Unique footed bowl
Estimate $60,000 - 90,000
Sold for $200,000
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417
Eugène Printz
Adjustable three-part bibliothèque
Estimate $30,000 - 40,000
Sold for $81,250
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418
Eugène Printz
Desk
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $212,500
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419
René Lalique
"Serpent" vase, Marcilhac no. 896
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $37,500
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420
Kaare Klint and Edvard Kindt-Larsen
Pair of "Mix" easy chairs, model no. 4396
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $87,500
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421
Alberto Giacometti
Rare "Ecossaise" table lamp
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $193,750
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422
Robert Mallet-Stevens
Pair of armchairs from the apartment building at 7, rue Méchain, Paris
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $121,250
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423
Jean Royère
Armchair designed for the Salon de repos du Pavillon de la céramique, L'Exposition Internationale, Paris
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
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424
Carlo Mollino
Unique pair of lounge chairs, from the living room of the Ada and Cesare Minola House, Turin
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
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425
Carlo Mollino
Unique "specchio-armadio" and adjustable wall light, from the bedroom of the Ada and Cesare Minola House, Turin
Estimate $250,000 - 300,000
Sold for $298,000
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426
Shiro Kuramata
Rare side chair, from the Livina Yamagiwa showroom, Tokyo
Estimate $15,000 - 20,000
Sold for $68,750
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427
Gio Ponti
Rare side table
Estimate $120,000 - 180,000
Sold for $150,000
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428
Eileen Gray
Unique "Brick" screen
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $478,000
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429
Marcel Coard
Important drinks cabinet
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $87,500
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430
Diego Giacometti
Two “Tabourets en X," troisième version
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
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431
Eugène Printz and Jean Dunand
Important sideboard
Estimate $400,000 - 500,000
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432
Alberto Giacometti
"Feuille" floor lamp
Estimate $140,000 - 160,000
Sold for $175,000
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433
Jean-Michel Frank
Important pair of side chairs, from the Jean-Pierre Guerlain apartment, Paris
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $47,500
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434
Gio Ponti
Chest of drawers, designed for Nordiska Kompaniet
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $112,500
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435
Gio Ponti
"Wall dashboard," designed for Nordiska Kompaniet
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
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436
Gio Ponti
"Bedside dashboard," designed for Nordiska Kompaniet
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
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437
Karl Hansen Reistrup and Herman August Kähler
Unique vase
Estimate $10,000 - 15,000
Sold for $12,500
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438
Jean Royère
Rare wingback armchair
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $250,000
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439
Jean Royère
“Ski” floor lamp
Estimate $20,000 - 30,000
Sold for $118,750
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440
Pierre Jeanneret
Cabinet, from the Henri Ingber Residence, Paris
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $237,500
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441
Jean Royère
"Yo-yo" coffee table
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $175,000
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442
Roberto Gabetti and Aimaro Isola
Rare pair of side chairs, from the Stock Exchange building, Turin
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $30,000
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443
Isamu Noguchi
"Rudder" dinette table, model IN-20
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
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444
Josef Hoffmann
Set of four stools
Estimate $40,000 - 60,000
Sold for $56,250
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445
Marcel Coard
Chest of drawers
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
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446
Theodor Bogler
Important teapot
Estimate $15,000 - 20,000
Sold for $21,250
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447
Gio Ponti
Rare and early pair of wall lights, from Palazzo Montecatini, Milan
Estimate $18,000 - 22,000
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Design Evening Sale

New York Auction 13 December 2016

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Provenance

Literature

Catalogue Essay

410

Isamu Noguchi

Prototype chair, for William A.M. Burden, Northeast Harbor, Maine

Design Evening Sale

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