Chair
John Moyr Smith|Christopher Dresser|Coalbrookdale Company
1870 · Cast iron, wood · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
The versatile artist Christopher Dresser is often celebrated as the first industrial designer. Philosophically, he was aligned with his contemporary William Morris on the virtues of good design but unlike Morris, he did not distain industrial production methods. Rather than affiliating himself with a single company or starting a workshop of his own, Dresser worked as an independent designer for manufacturers in many media, including ceramics, metalwork, glass, furniture and textiles. This cast iron chair is emblematic of the marriage of design reform to industrial production.
- Artist
- John Moyr Smith|Christopher Dresser|Coalbrookdale Company
- Date
- 1870
- Medium
- Cast iron, wood
- Culture
- British, Coalbrookdale
- Department
- European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
- Credit line
- Purchase, From the Marion E. and Leonard A. Cohn Collection, Bequest of Marion E. Cohn, by exchange, 2016
