Film Screening: Eileen Gray: Designer and Architect

Thursday, March 10, 2016
6:00p.m.—8:00p.m.
A film by Jorg Bundschuh (produced in 2007)

Landmarks Preservation Resource Center
744 Rebecca Avenue, Wilkinsburg, PA 15221

She designed the Lota Sofa, the famous Adjustable Table, and the Tube Light. Eileen Gray (1878 -1976) was always ahead of her time. Forty years after her death, she is still considered as the very essence of the Modern. She was born to an aristocratic family of Irish-Scottish heritage, Gray studied at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London before moving to Paris in 1902 where she continued her studies and, in a revolt against prevailing art nouveau conventions, mastered lacquer work and established the Galerie Jean Desert, where she sold her avant-garde, luxury furniture pieces intended both to fulfill a function and to inspire the spirit.

This movie examines the history of her architectural creations, including E.1027, one of the most famous houses in architectural history, built in Roquebrune, France, in 1926. This modernist seaside villa – an L –shaped, flat roofed building with floor-to-ceiling windows and a spiral staircase, utilizing natural light and ventilation – was designed, said Gray, for a “minimum of space and maximum of comfort”. E. 1027 has today been declared a French national monument.

This film screening is free to PHLF members. Click here to learn more about PHLF membership and please join! Non-members: $5

RSVPs are appreciated. Contact Mary Lu Denny at 412-471-5808 ext. 527