Misha Sylver
Administrator
US$50,000 - US$70,000
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The Bauerle Brothers Furniture Company were based in Oak Park, Illinois, at the turn of the twentieth century and worked extensively in Oak Park, Sugar Grove and Wisconsin. Throughout this period the brothers carried out construction work for Frank Lloyd Wright.
According to family legend, the present lot was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and constructed by the brothers for their family home. By family repute the design was a precursor or prototype for the slant back chair design that Frank Lloyd Wright conceived for the Larkin Company Administration Building in Buffalo, NY, later that year. The earlier Bauerle version of the design differs in that it has one less leg stretcher and has an extended back rest.
Provenance
Chairs commissioned from Frank Lloyd Wright by the present owners great aunt, Oak Park, Illinois, 1903
Thence by descent to the present owners great grandfather, 1909
Thence by descent to the grandfather of the present owner, 1920
Thence by descent to the present owner's mother, 2012
Thence by descent to the present owner, 2015
Literature
Thomas Heinz, 'Frank Lloyd Wright Interiors and Furniture', Academy Editions, 1994, p. 81 (dining chair for the Larkin Company Administrative Building Restaurant, 1903, illustrated)