Eileen Gray

Eileen Gray: The visionary life and work of a design icon

Turning to architecture and villa E.1027

"A house is not a machine, it is the casing, the shell of the human being, his extension, his liberation, his spiritual radiance"

From the 1920s onwards, Eileen Gray increasingly turned to architecture, a move encouraged by her partner Jean Badovici, a Romanian architect and editor of the magazine "L'Architecture Vivante".

Between 1925 and 1929 Gray designed and built the house E.1027 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the French Riviera for herself and Badovici, a work she referred to as "my boat". With the name, a composition of E for Eileen, 10 for Jean (the tenth letter of the alphabet), 2 for Badovici and 7 for Gray, she created a monument to her short relationship with Badovici. And also developed a prime example of modern architecture, a work which convinces with both its aesthetic sensitivity and its coherent spatial and usage plan. Eileen Gray designed not only the building, but also numerous built-in furniture and individual pieces that made and make E.1027 an unmistakable work of art, including the eponymous E.1027 side table, today one of the most famous design classics of classical modernism.

The house quickly gained fame and reknown, and also inspired the famous architect Le Corbusier. After the end of the relationship between Gray and Badovici, the house passed to Badovici in 1932, and Eileen Gray never returned. As Badovici's guest, Le Corbusier created seven to eight large-format coloured murals inside and outside the house during numerous summer stays in 1938 and 1939. Eileen Gray saw these paintings as vandalism and an intrusion on her design. This seems all the more understandable when you consider that Eileen Gray summed up her understanding of architecture in contrast to Le Corbusier's concept of the "living machine" as follows: "A house is not a machine, it is the housing, the shell of man, his expansion, his liberation, his spiritual charisma."

Some also suspect that Le Corbusier was jealous of the building, which so cleverly combined the principles of modern architecture. The legendary incident is still a topic of conversation today.

Eileen Gray's design philosophy

Eileen Gray's design language was focused on functionality, but interpreted the concept very artistically. In this respect Gray clearly distanced herself from the standardization of forms and manufacturing methods demanded by many modernists such as Le Corbusier. She cleverly used innovative materials such as tubular steel, glass and lacquer for her furniture designs. For Gray, furniture and architecture were inseparably linked: many pieces were designed specifically for the rooms in which they were to be used. The focus was always on meeting human needs such as comfort and ergonomics.

Clear and minimalist in glass and tubular steel, Eileen Gray's Adjustable Table E.1027

With House E.1027 Gray created a modern, functional home that reflected the lifestyle of the avant-garde of the time while at the same time focusing on the comfort and needs of the residents. For example, a seat for visitors was installed in front of the bathtub in one of the house's three bathrooms, so that the bather could relax and chat. The pool also serves more as a communication element - you couldn't swim here, just sit down and cool off - an ideal place for a pastis in the Mediterranean sun. The house was intended to be a space in which nature, sea and light merge harmoniously with architecture and design.

Retiral and late recognition

From the 1930s Eileen Gray lived in seclusion in Paris and in her second house on the Côte d'Azur, Tempe a Pailla. She continued to sell furniture in small editions, which were highly regraded, but was increasingly forgotten until she was rediscovered after her death in 1976 and her works achieved record prices at auctions, such as her "Serpent Chair", which was sold for 21.9 million euros.

In the 1970s, Gray began a collaboration with the British designer Zeev Aram to bring her furniture and lamps to series production. In 1973 she transferred the worldwide rights to the production and distribution of her designs to his company. In 1972 she was named ‘Royal Designer for Industry’ by the Royal Society of Art in London, and her ‘Adjustable Table’ was added to the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1978. A major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in 2013 and the restoration of the house E.1027 made her known to a wider audience again.

"E.1027 - Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea": Interview with director Beatrice Minger

Together with the film distributor Rise and Shine Cinema smow is presenting the film "E.1027 - Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea", which not only addresses the architectural significance of the E.1027 house, but also sheds light on Eileen Gray's visionary design philosophy and her diverse work. As one of the most influential designers of the 20th century Gray shaped the world of design with pieces of furniture that impress with their functionality and timeless elegance.

With her House by the Sea, Gray created a masterpiece that triggered a tense conflict with her contemporary Le Corbusier - a central theme in the film. We met up to director Beatrice Minger to talk about her motivation for making this film and her fascination with Eileen Gray's unique work.

smow: A film about Eileen Gray and her house by the sea - how did the idea arise?

Beatrice Minger: Actually, it was a bit of a detour. The producer Philip Delaquis originally wanted to make a film about Le Corbusier. The film's co-director, Christoph Schaub, then asked me if I wanted to research it.

But for us there was a question mark from the start, Le Corbusier was of course an exciting architect but he is already very well portrayed and documented. So the question was: what else can we add? Then we came across this house during our research and agreed relatively quickly that it would make a really exciting film that explains a lot about architecture, but also about the discourses of Modernism, which are all still very relevant today a century. Combined with this very exciting, conflict-ridden, story that is connected to the house, and is well known in design and architecture circles, the subject of Eileen Gray was just very exciting. We hoped that with the film we could add something to the story of this conflict in all its complexity. So I started writing and later took over directing.

smow in conversation with director Beatrice Minger

smow: Then let's move straight to the conflict, specifically Le Corbusier's attack on Gray's house. How did you research all the facts background and events? There are many legends about how this conflict could have played out. We also found many versions and decided on one that you can read about on smow. But how do you research something like that so that you can also prepare it as a film?

Beatrice Minger: Yes, that's true. Depending on who you talk to, you get a different version. That applies to Eileen Gray's biography as well as to this particular story.

I spoke to many "Grayans" and "Le Corbusiers" because it was important to me not just to scratch the surface of the story, but to delve into the complexity of the story. At first I was outraged by what Le Corbusier did, but if I try to understand it rationally, it's not that easy. After all, Eileen Gray had already left the house when Le Corbusier arrived. She had left the house to Jean Badovici, who invited Le Corbusier to do the murals. Many people argue that it wasn't actually that bad, that not much went wrong. And yet I still feel this outrage. I think that's how many people feel about this conflict.

It wasn't about portraying Le Corbusier as a villain and an offender; I think we've already gone a step further. I was interested in the complexity of the conflict, but also in creating an experience for the viewer that makes this attack physically comprehensible. For me the task of the film was to find out where a line was really crossed and where Eileen Gray's artistic integrity was violated. And then, of course, we wanted to present the story in such a way that it does justice to the complexity of the conflict.

smow: Which of Eileen Gray's pieces of furniture can be seen in the film? How did you decide which pieces of furniture to include?

Beatrice Minger: The film is of course primarily about E.1027, the house, so we always asked ourselves how we could tell the story through the furniture. Unfortunately a film is only 90 minutes long and Eileen Gray's life is so rich that you could make three films about it. For me, it was exciting to see how Eileen Gray tells her life through the furniture. Her development is actually a development from the inside out. She starts with the object, with pieces of furniture. She also made the prototypes for all the furniture herself and dealt a lot with the materials, including the lacquer. Her work develops from the lacquered furniture to the lighter furniture, which is of course the most well-known today. After all, she also designed this house - a smooth transition into architecture, which at that time was a very male-dominated world in which there were hardly any women.

To return to the question of furniture: There is of course the Adjustable Table, and the Brick Screen, which as an object is very exciting to stage in a film. In general the topic of screens was very, very prominent, especially in the early phases of your work. Thanks to the incredibly great collaboration with Classicon, who generously provided us with many pieces of furniture, we were able to deliberately pick out individual objects in order to give them meaning and use them well in the film. We also wanted to avoid the film becoming a furniture showroom. That's more what smow is for. (laughs)

The Non-Conformist lives up to its name

The Non-Conformist Chair was very important because of its name and because it says so much about Eileen Gray. With this chair she made it very clear that one side was for leaning and smoking and the other side was for the freedom of the arms, i.e. for discussing and gesticulating. If you don't agree, you have to argue. There are no preconceived opinions with Eileen Gray - you have to keep reminding yourself of this - that's what being a Non-Conformist stands for. This also applies to her relationship with Jean Badovici, for example. Nobody knows what the relationship was like. Ultimately, it's just speculation. Also her relationships with women are speculation. She did her own thing.

smow: What do you find most fascinating about Eileen Gray or Eileen Gray's designs?

Beatrice Minger: What inspired me, even as a filmmaker, was her incredible will to always look for the right form in everything she touched, including every material she used, and always add something new. In everything she did she was always pushing the boundaries. And she was incredibly free and progressive, really "avant-garde" in the truest sense of the word. I think that's also the reason why she is still so relevant today, because she is so unconditional and has such incredible courage and because she resonates with the world.

smow: Did that also mean that Le Corbusier couldn't stand this fundamentally different vision of architecture?

Beatrice Minger: At first he was incredibly fascinated, to the point where he didn't really understand it. It was something foreign to him. It was different. I think that moment was also threatening for him. So he had to adapt himself to the stranger, take over the house and destroy it. Only then was his worldview restored.

smow: Was it also filmed on location in house E.1027?

Beatrice Minger: Yes. For example, there is this beautiful scene where Eileen Gray is standing in front of the windows. She made these blue blinds so that you can only see the sea.

Villa E.1027 - Eileen Gray's architectural masterpiece

smow: This place right by the sea, the scenery alone is indescribably beautiful.

Beatrice Minger: Yes, really. I feel like I can sense her presence there, precisely because she had this sense of humour, this charm, this wit that is reflected in everything. The film is perhaps a little better than the photos that exist of E.1027, but you have to go into this house and experience it for yourself because you can't capture this spirit. She took every light, every position of the sun into account.

smow: Have you ever thought about making a crime thriller out of the material?

Beatrice Minger: (laughs) There is actually a feature film about the story. It's more about the love triangle with Le Corbusier, who stumbles into the relationship with Badovici and then sabotages the whole thing in a relatively one-dimensional way. The film is more of a biopic that uses fiction to tell a somewhat simpler story. I felt the need to give space to the contradictions through the documentary form. Because it is precisely in this that you can understand a lot about Modernity and of course about the patriarchal system.

smow: Thank you very much!