Recent Book Launch: EILEEN GRAY - Her Work and Her World, by Jennifer Goff
Revered in design circles, celebrated and decorated in France - and latterly acknowledged in the country she called her own all her life – Eileen Gray is utterly remarkable both in terms of her life-story and her life’s work.
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Eileen Grey - her work and her world
EILEEN GRAY
Her Work and Her World
by Jennifer Goff
Revered in design circles, celebrated and decorated in France - and latterly acknowledged in the country she called her own all her life – Eileen Gray is utterly remarkable both in terms of her life-story and her life’s work. Jennifer Goff’s landmark and definitive biography, 10 years in the making, is truly a comprehensive overview of Gray’s fascinating biography and the sheer breadth of her artistic output. Challenging many misconceptions and misunderstandings that surround her, this lavish and fully illustrated book gives us a full sense of Gray the person, her milieu and her art – including the often overlooked painting, sculpture and fabric works as well as her furniture, architecture and interior design. The book’s publication coincides with the Irish broadcast of the documentary Gray Matters and the soon-to-be released feature film about Gray: The Price of Desire, directed by Mary McGuckian who will launch the book on December 10th in the National Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin 7. It is available in paperback priced €39.95 (and as an exclusive Limited Edition Hardback in Slipcase, individually numbered and signed by the author/Curator, priced €150) in bookshops nationwide, and from www.iap.ieLinks to external website
About the book: Eileen Gray was, amongst other things, a highly influential architect, furniture-maker, interior designer and photographer. She was born in Ireland and returned regularly, remaining throughout her life an Irishwoman at heart. An elusive figure, her interior world has never been as closely observed as in this ground-breaking study of her work, philosophy and inner circle of fellow artists. Her relationships were complex and passionate – as she was in all she did – and featured women and men who themselves were virtuosos in their own right. Jennifer Goff expertly blends art history and biography to create a stunning ensemble, offering a clear avenue into truly understanding Gray - the woman and the professional. Gray was a self-taught polymath and her work was multi-functional, user-friendly, ready for mass production yet succinctly unique, and her designs show great technical virtuosity. Her expertise in lacquer work and carpet design, often overlooked, is given due attention in Eileen Gray - Her Work and Her World, as is her fascinating relationship with the architect Le Corbusier who was literally obsessed with Gray and the house E.1027 that she designed and shared with architect Jean Badovici. The book also offers rare insights into Gray’s early years as an artist and her training in London and Paris.
The primary source material for this book is drawn from the Eileen Gray collection at the National Museum of Ireland and its wealth of documentation, correspondence, personal archives, photographs and oral history.
About the author: Dr Jennifer Goff is Curator of Furniture, Silver & the Eileen Gray collection at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Dublin. She is recognised as one of the world’s leading experts on Gray’s work and legacy.
For press and publicity enquiries contact Peter O’Connell
+ 353 87 681 4499 | peter@peteroconnellmedia.com
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