“On Greek vases I saw furniture young and untouched by time.”

 

Relatively unknown in Australia, T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings (1905 – 1976) was not only a prominent writer and tastemaker but one of the most important furniture designers of the 20th Century.  What Frank Lloyd Wright did for contemporary American architecture, Robsjohn-Gibbings did for furniture design, effectively redefining the contemporary style.

In short, Gibbings’ legacy was two-fold.  He was the first person to reconstruct classical Greek furniture, which he did by carefully studying and sketching the scenes on ancient Greek vase paintings at the British Museum in the early 1930’s.  His passion for the “purity of line” of ancient Greek furniture was unbridled, and a constant influence throughout his career.

The second aspect of the designer’s legacy developed after emigrating from England to the United States.  Throughout the 1930’s and early 1940’s, Gibbings created interiors and custom furniture for the likes of Doris Duke, Elizabeth Arden and other members of America’s wealthy elite.  His best known work from this period was Casa Encantada, the Bel-Air estate of social aspirant, Hilda Boldt Weber for which he created interiors and more than two hundred custom furniture pieces between 1934 and 1938.  Highly sophisticated, Casa Encantada embodied all of Gibbings’ passion for the designs of the ancient world.

In 1944 Gibbings wrote the first of four books, Goodbye Mr. Chippendale, in which he mocked the prevailing styles of the day, from Georgian reproductions to the Bauhaus.  However, he did praise the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, which he considered to herald a new form of contemporary American architecture.  In his first furniture collection for Widdicomb in 1946, it was Wright’s influence rather than ancient Greece that was apparent in the low-slung, modern and mass-produced designs – designs that would inspire his contemporaries and go on to define the new American aesthetic well into the 1950’s.  Just as he’d utilised the highly inspired design source of ancient Greece to create custom pieces for the wealthy, he now used the more organic, modernist aesthetic of Wright as inspiration to create simple, beautiful and affordable furniture for the masses.

Eventually Gibbings would return to his more classical roots, joining forces with Saridis of Athens in 1961 to create his own line of ancient Greek furniture, based on revised versions of the sketches he made in the 1930’s.  He moved permanently to Athens at this time, designing the interiors of prominent Athenians (including Aristotle Onassis), and in 1963 published his fourth and final book, Furniture of Classical Greece, documenting his sources and designs for the Saridis line of the same name, still in production today.

 

The Klismos chair was based on a 5th Century BC design Gibbings found on a marble gravestone.  He said, “It is to furniture what the Parthenon is to architecture.”  The first pair of Klismos chairs were made as part of the ‘Sans Époque’ collection for his Madison Avenue showroom in 1936, and then adapted for Casa Encantada.  The Klismos chair pictured, in Greek walnut and strap leather was part of his 1961 ‘Furniture of Classical Greece’ collection.  It is Gibbings’ best known piece of furniture.

One of the iconic carved Griffin console tables (1937) for Casa Encantada, in bleached lime wood.

One of a pair of custom cabinets in combed oak with rosewood inlay (1938) for Casa Encantada.

Casa Encantada (1934-38) was the Bel-Air estate belonging to Hilda Boldt Weber, the nurse-turned-wife-turned-widow of a wealthy mid-west industrialist.  After marrying her chauffeur Ms. Weber commissioned Gibbings, America’s most prominent decorator, to design the furniture and interiors for each of the estate’s sixty-four rooms in an attempt to gain entry into Bel-Air society.  It was to become Gibbings’ most prominent work, for which he designed over two hundred custom furniture pieces incorporating Egyptian, Greek and Roman elements such as Klismos chairs and tables with either dolphins or seated sphinxes for bases.

Unfortunately Hilda was never accepted into Bel-Air society, despite the Gibbings designed interiors of Casa Encantada.  She eventually gambled away her fortune, and the estate was sold in its entirety, right down to silverware, to Conrad Hilton in 1952 after Hilda committed suicide.

Gibbings’ first line of mass-produced furniture was for the Widdicomb Furniture Co. in 1946.  It was to be the largest and most influential furniture line of his career.  Gibbings was greatly inspired by the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, whose influence can be seen in this patio setting, photographed for the cover of House Beautiful in 1950.  Gibbings stated, “I don’t believe you have to design down for mass-produced furniture.”

The Mesa coffee table (1950) was one of Gibbings’ most recognisable pieces.  Inspired by the aerial views of mountains and rock formations seen while flying to and from the West Coast, his Mesa table measured almost 2.7m long.  A smaller 1.8m version was added to the collection in 1952.

A Klismos daybed in bleached walnut and leather, one of Gibbings’ rare 1940’s custom pieces.

The Davis residence in Palm Springs, California, designed by Gibbings in 1958.

Two tables and a stool, each with the legs and claws of animals, from the 1961 ‘Furniture of Classical Greece’ collection.  The folding stool to the right (and below), in Greek walnut, bronze accents and a single piece of leather, was based on an image from a 6th Century BC earthen plaque.

Gibbings and his partner, Carlton W. Pulin published the book, Furniture of Classical Greece in 1963, following the launch of his 1961 collection by the same name.  The book documented Gibbings’ sources and original designs, and included photos of ancient Greek ruins as a backdrop for his collection, like this theatre on the island of Delos.