FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 23, 1999
CONTACT: Loulou Kane, (515) 271-1994, Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119
'SEATED IN STYLE' OPENS OCT. 3 AT ANDERSON GALLERY
Twenty icons of Modern and contemporary chair design will be on view in Seated in Style: Kirk V. Blunck Collection of 20th Century Chairs at the Anderson Gallery at Drake University from Oct. 3 through 31. The opening reception will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3. Both the reception and exhibiton are free and open to the public.
Kirk V. Blunck, principal and CEO of the Des Moines architectural firm Herbert/Lewis/Kruse/Blunck Architecture, has had a long-standing interest in avant-garde chair design. He acquired his first chairs -- dining chairs by Swiss architect Le Corbusier -- in 1979.
Since then Blunck has steadily built the collection, acquiring chairs that are deemed the classics of Modernism, such as the Red-and-Blue chair (1917/18) by Dutch architect and furniture designer Gerrit Rietveld. Constructed of rectilinear pieces of wood painted in primary colors, it is generally considered to be the first truly Modern chair.
Blunck's interest extends to contemporary chair design as well, as exemplified by Danish designer Verner Panton's injection-molded Stacking chair of 1960-67, and American architect Frank Gehry's laminated cardboard Wiggle chair (of the Easy Edges series) of 1972.
Most of the chairs in Blunck's collection have been designed by architects, including such giants in the field as Josef Hoffmann (Austria, 1870-1956) and Mies van der Rohe (German, 1886-1969), director of the Bauhaus in the early 1930s.
Modern and contemporary furniture is often designed by architects who want the interiors of their buildings to express their design philosophies. Blunck's collection is a rich sampling of the many innovative ways architects and other designers have combined functionalism and the industrial process, primary concerns of design, with aesthetics, the central consideration of style.
Blunck has restricted much of his collection to chairs that are either black or white, allowing shape and form to be the primary focus, although there are colorful exceptions such as the bright red Marilyn sofa, a Pop-inspired piece with an unmistakable shape. All of the chairs in Blunck's collection are an integral part of his home. He strongly believes they are furniture first and meant to be part of one's living environment.
The Anderson Gallery provides Drake students and the Des Moines community the opportunity to experience the rich diversity of the visual arts, past and present. Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday in the Harmon Fine Arts Center, 25th Street and University Avenue. Admission is always free. For more information about the exhibition and gallery, call (515) 271-2863.