The Story of Eileen Gray

At the mention of modernism in architecture, one of the first images that comes to mind is the Villa Savoye, designed by the French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier. On the other hand, at the mention of the name 'E-1027,' most people might easily think it's a numerical designation for an emulsifier in some sweet, carcinogenic beverage on permanent discount. Fortunately, it refers to one of the manifest houses of modernism, designed by the Irish painter, designer, and architect, or rather, a polymath woman - Eileen Gray.

Gray was born in 1878 into an aristocratic Irish family, with a father who was a landscape painter, encouraging her artistic education in London. Together with her mother, she visited Paris in 1900, where she decided to live and work as an artist in the following years. During her education in London, she encountered traditional techniques of Japanese lacquer (urushi) and furthered her craft in Paris under the guidance of the Japanese master Seizo Sugawara. Eileen was so determined to learn the traditional Japanese technique that she even developed what was known as the 'lacquer disease.' The disease involved, among other things, painful rashes on her hands, but this did not deter her from continuing her work (editor's note: the sap from the lacquer tree is poisonous until dried hence, it requires skilled handling). Together with Sugawara, she opened a urushi workshop where they crafted luxurious furniture pieces for wealthy Parisian clients, but their work was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I, during which Eileen left her artistic career to become an ambulance driver.

After the war, Gray resumed her work and secured one of her largest commissioned projects: the interior design of the boutique and apartment of the Parisian designer Madame Mathieu-Lévy on Rue de Lota in Paris. For these interiors, Eileen designed some of her most significant pieces, such as textured wall panels/partitions, carpets, the Serpent armchair, and the Pirogue daybed. The interiors gained great popularity in the design world and were featured in magazines like Harper’s Bazaar. This experience allowed her to open a shop selling her own furniture, carpets, lighting fixtures, and installations under the name Jean Désert. The name was her pseudonym, a fictional male character, as at that time, it was inconceivable for a woman to achieve success in a profession that was not open to women.

Some of the furniture pieces that were sold in small series at Jean Désert are still in production today. One of them is the Lota sofa, which by today's standards may not seem particularly remarkable, but considering it was designed in 1924, it was quite avant-garde. Inspired by the figure of the Michelin Man, in 1929, Eileen designed a leather and chrome tube chair, now known as the Bibendum chair. It's important to note that she began experimenting independently with chrome steel tubes at the same time as Marcel Breuer and the Bauhaus school in Germany, with which Eileen had no connection. The same year was significant in her life because it marked the completion of E-1027, her first house designed as a self-taught architect, which is now considered one of the most significant houses of the international style.

The house was built on a cliff in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in the south of France. Eileen began designing it in 1924 as a gift to her then-lover, the Romanian-French architect and critic Jean Badovici. Although Jean participated in discussions during the design process of the house, his influence on the design was primarily through his role as a client and secondary architect advisor.

After completing the house, Eileen named it E-1027, with the indication E as Eileen, 10 as J (Jean), 2 as B (Badovici), and 7 as G (Gray). Eileen furnished the house with her previous furniture, but most of the furnishings were designed specifically for this space and her personal needs and were not intended for further production. Multifunctionality was a characteristic of most of her furniture pieces. One of the most famous is the coffee table of the same name, E-1027, which she designed for her sister, who liked to have breakfast in bed while spending time in the villa. The lower ring of the table is open to be able to fit under the bed or sofa when tucked away, while the upper surface allows adjustment to the desired height and enjoyment of breakfast without crumbs on the sheets.

The history of the house is marked by interesting events closely related to the architect Le Corbusier. The features of the E-1027 house precisely embody the five characteristics that Le Corbusier defined in 1927 as the "Five Points of the New Architecture," which include the cube elevated on pilotis, a flat roof with a terrace, horizontal windows, an open facade, and a free ground plan. Le Corbusier, affectionately called Corbu, as a friend of Jean Badovici, was invited to Villa E-1027, after which he expressed envy and confusion that a woman, without architectural education or prior experience, successfully realised ideas that were fully in line with what he was striving to achieve in his work and which are still reflected today in Villa Savoye and other works.

In 1932, Eileen and Jean ended their relationship, and she left him the entire house, which she still occasionally visited. She built herself a new house called "Tempe à Pailla" (a local proverb meaning "yawning time") slightly north of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. At the time of her departure, Le Corbusier and his wife began to visit the villa more frequently, and during his weekend stays, Le Corbusier initiated a series of murals on the pristine walls. The murals depicted abstracted sexual scenes, which Corbu often painted while naked, and Eileen considered them a desecration of her work. Paradoxically, Le Corbusier's murals, due to his popularity, are precisely what saved the house from demolition and attributed it to him for many years. After Jean Badovici's death in 1956, the house was put up for sale, and Le Corbusier anonymously tried to buy it, but without success. He lived in a wooden cabin he built right next to the E-1027 villa.

And while E-1027 was so comfortable to live in that even Le Corbusier himself wanted to spend the rest of his life there, unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Villa Savoye. In the book "The Architecture of Happiness," Alain de Botton writes how the flat roof of the villa promised Mrs. Savoye uninterrupted exercise, lower temperatures in summer, easier maintenance, and cheaper construction. However, just a week after moving in, the roof began to leak. Roger, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Savoye, developed a lung infection, which then progressed to pneumonia, resulting in a year-long treatment for respiratory problems at the Chiamonix sanatorium. In September 1936, five years after completion, Mrs. Savoye wrote in a letter to Le Corbusier:

“It’s raining in the hallway, it’s raining on the ramp, and the garage wall is completely soaked. Even worse, it rains in the bathroom, which is flooded in bad weather, as if water is entering it from the sky."

Le Corbusier promised that the problems would be rectified and took the opportunity to remind his clients how enthusiastically their house was received among critics worldwide, responding, "You should place a book on the table in the ground-floor hallway and ask all your visitors to sign their names and addresses in it. You will see how many lovely autographs you will collect."

However, this idea did not appeal to the rheumatic Savoye family, so the lady continued in further correspondence: "After my countless requests, you must finally accept that the house you built in 1929 is uninhabitable. It is your responsibility, and I have no intention of paying the bill. Please make the house habitable immediately. I sincerely hope I will not have to take any legal action."

The outbreak of World War II and the subsequent departure of the Savoye family to Paris prevented Le Corbusier from presenting his explanation for his waterproof, yet unusually beautiful — machine for living as he himself called it - in court. Le Corbusier argued in his defense that the house was correctly designed but was not executed properly by the contractor. Judging by examples from his own life, that is a very realistic possibility.

Eileen Gray did not have such problems. Her biggest issue was that, being averse to self-promotion, she soon fell into complete obscurity without anyone associating her name with progressive and modern ideas. She spent the rest of her life living modestly and reclusively in her apartment in Paris. In the late 1960s, occasional articles began to appear about her, and finally, in 1973, she was rediscovered by Zeev Aram, a British designer and founder of the Aram furniture store. With his encouragement, Eileen agreed to have her furniture pieces begin serial production, which has continued unabated to this day. Yves Saint Laurent bought her quirky Serpent chair (now Dragon chair) in 1972 for several thousand dollars. The same chair was sold in 2009 at an auction of Saint Laurent's art collection for an incredible $28,300,000. At that moment, many were probably wondering: Who is Eileen Gray, anyway? In the last few decades, Eileen has become increasingly well-known and is finally recognized as one of the pioneers of modernism. She passed away in Paris in 1976.

And finally, for those intrigued by Le Corbusier's scar on his leg, in 1938, while swimming in Saint-Tropez, he inadvertently found himself in the depression between two waves and was caught under a motor yacht, whose propeller fortunately only gashed his thigh. Le Corbusier died of a heart attack while swimming in 1965, right in front of the E-1027 villa.

*The idea of this column is not to portray Le Corbusier as a jealous pervert or to belittle his work, but simply to show that history often forgets, for various reasons, those who equally deserve to be remembered.

**The E-1027 villa was completely restored a few years ago and can be visited by appointment at contact@capmoderne.com.