Isamu Noguchi

William A.M. Burden, Northeast Harbor, ME
Thence by descent
Christie's New York, June 5, 2007, lot 114
Acquired from above by the present owner

"The William A.M. Burden House," House and Garden, February 1948, pp. 51-55 (for a discussion of the residence)
Design:  Isamu Noguchi and Isamu Kenmochi, New York, 2007, pp. 108-109 (for a model of the chair executed in plaster in the collection of the Noguchi Museum)

Overall excellent condition. As seen in the catalogue photo the second generation upholstery which was on the chair when it was sold at Christie's New York, has been removed exposing the original burlap under upholstery which is in superb shape. The three tubular metal legs can be unscrewed. In its present condition this prototype perfectly illustrates the mid-point of the design's development from plaster maquette to the unrealized final product
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Completed in 1947, destroyed by fire in 1999, and rebuilt in 2006, the summer residence in Northeast Harbor, Maine of William A.M. Burden and his wife, Margaret Livingston Partridge Burden, which was designed by Wallace K. Harrison with the collaboration of Isamu Noguchi, is a curvilinear Modernist masterpiece. Both 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, and sent an invoice to the architects on December 1^st for the design (fig.1). 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 9^th, 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."

 

However, at some point during this period, while a working prototype of the chair was fully realized, as seen in the present lot, it would be rejected by the Burdens as not being suitable for everyday dining use, and they instead opted to acquire a set of DCM's by Charles and Ray Eames to go around Noguchi's finished dining table. Instead, as seen in an undated photograph included in an elegiac spiral-bound scrapbook of photographs of the house and family, the chair was placed in one of the bedrooms by the fireplace (fig. 2). When the house was consumed by fire in 1999, only this chair, which had been moved to a storage shed, and a single pair of andirons survived.