University of Delaware
The political life of a chair: the Chaise Sandows in interwar France
Abstract
dc:description.abstract“The Political Life of a Chair: The Chaise Sandows in Interwar France” investigates the history of a chair made of steel and rubber to reveal a nuanced relationship between the steel industry and the decorative arts in interwar France. The Chaise Sandows, designed in 1929 by the French decorator René Herbst (1891-1982), featured more than two dozen bungee cords stretched across a rigid, tubular steel frame. Herbst had the chair produced in series by his manufacturing company in metropolitan France, although the materials originated in colonies and contested regions of the empire. The chairs in the Chaise Sandows series enjoyed expansive social lives. They appeared at annual salons, group exhibitions, traveling exhibits organized by government administrations, and industrial stands at international expositions across the globe. ☐ Unraveling the dense history of the Chaise Sandows requires the use of design studies and material culture methods that insist makers, materials, technology, business practices, and politics impact an object's form, use, and interpretation. It argues through this history that the steel industry's people, organizations, and manufacturing systems influenced an increased use of steel in the decorative arts, helped shape the careers of individual decorators, encouraged a sleek visual style, and aligned steel decoration with a specific form of French imperialism. This investigation not only reexamines Herbst's career but considers the individuals and tools that formed the steel and rubber, the people who purchased a Chaise Sandows, and the organizations that positioned the series as advertisements for steel and the Metropole. Such an interdisciplinary approach highlights people often overlooked in art history and contributes to ongoing scholarship on immigration, environmental changes, the state and perception of colonial policies, and expressions of nationalism in interwar France.
Degree
thesis:*- Grantor dc:publisher
- University of Delaware
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2022
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Thamm, Kiersten Elaine
Subjects
dc:subject × 6Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:udspace.udel.edu:19716/32080