Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House Dining Room Set

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The overall appearance of the table and chairs shows a rectangular shape with very definitive, sharp vertical and horizontal presence. The piece plays with your eyes as it takes you upward and then back horizontally. It is like its breathing up and then across. The thick lines of the table hang strongly over the edges at each end. These strong line reinforce the supports at each corner crossing pillars which appear to be holding up the tabletop. When you look below you see four base pedestals which also support the tabletop and they are placed at angles, which I believe is just to skew your eyes to the overall straight lines the piece eludes at first glance. But when you look at the details of the banding at the base of each leg and support you are tied together again visually by the base ribbon created about the bottom of the piece which ties it all together. Further, at the top of the piece the tops of the chairs equates to the tops of the square portion of the light fixtures at each corner. On purpose there is this line created visually to tie the piece together. It creates a visual circular pattern around the entire 'rectangular' table. You see this on the base and the top of the piece as well as at all angles you look at this table and chairs. There is a sense of unity that just brings you around and around the table and chairs. The unity of this band draws you into the intimacy of the piece. It envelopes a sense of security, drawing you in as if you are a part of the furniture itself The close slatted lines of the chair go from the very bottom of the piece to the top, no breaks like other chairs you see. Visually the six chairs create a boxed-in affect when they are tucked under the table. The set would not... ... middle of paper ... ...ire--a man creates a home for Americans that can stand the test of international comparison. When his work was published in a sumptuous monograph in Berlin, Germany, in 1910, it was the design of the Robie House that caught everyone's eye. European builders had been enmeshed in their dependence on historical forms. Wright and the Robie House of 1908 showed them the way to the fundamental patterns of modern architectural expression. So much so, in fact, that even the extremes of cubistic modern architecture, the "cigar-box covered with cold-cream" style may be traced back to the influence of Wright's Robie House." While this quote is specifically speaking of the home itself you cannot ignore that the interior pieces that were created for the home, especially this dining room set reflects the same sense of unique, eye catching, new style of modern functionality.

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