Chairgate

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It all started with the Bondage Chair by Allen Jones.

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Which chair had to be remade by Bjarne Melgaard.

Last year the virtual world exploded when Russian socialite, fashionista and art collector Dasha Zhukova (married to Roman Abramowich) was pictured on Bjarne Melgaard’s version for an interview with Russian buro 24/7/. It was published on the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. which was wideley misunderstood and critisized on the internet. See for instance the Hollywood Reporter.

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According to Art Info:

Melgaard and his dealer, Gavin Brown, are taking a different tack. In a statement sent to ARTINFO today, the pair called the photo of Zhukova “extraordinary” and said they “applaud both the sitter and the seated.” The duo goes on to say, “To fault the sitter, now in the age of the Anthroposcene, in the midst of extraordinary and REAL obscenities that threaten our actual existence, reflects a civilization that is not dying but already dead.”

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The Urban wrote about a photoshoot for the Sir NY spring collection with an answer to the Melgaard chair.

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And Pierluigi Vecchi linked me to a male white and male black models photo as an answer.
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Finally hmvm mentioned the Proportion London with Rick Owens male model submitting himself as a model for a chair. This may close the (chair)gate…

Update

Not entirely. As I discovered this comical cartoon by Dutch Cartoonist Ruben Oppenheimer:
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Putin seated on Rutte, the Dutch prime minister. “Citius Altius Fortius” is Latin for “Faster, Higher, Stronger”.

Relax Armchair by Frans Molenaar

Frans Molenaar Chair

Relax Armchair by Frans Molenaar

Last Friday Frans Molenaar, a famous Dutch fashion designer passed away sadly. I hadn’t any idea he was into chair design until this news started spreading around. The photo shows Frans who became 74 years in a yellow version of his relax armchair.

Van Gogh Sitting Postman

Van Gogh Sitting Postman

Van Gogh Sitting Postman

Found this painting by Vincent van Gogh on the Museum of Fine Arts Boston FB Timeline.

Postman Joseph Roulin” painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1888. Roulin was one of Van Gogh’s closest friends and favorite sitters. While painting this portrait, Van Gogh wrote to his brother, “I am now at work with another model…very like Socrates…A more interesting man than many people.”

Thonets

Thonets

Thonets

Via chairstalker:

Michael Thonet, Chair No. 14 (1859) Via Phaidon Design Classics:

Probably the single most commercially successful chair ever produced (50 million sold between 1859 and 1930), No. 14 embodies the radical developments of Michael Thonet’s pioneering steam bending process, which paved the way for mass-produced furniture