Vladimir Kagan

VLADIMIR KAGAN (Worms, 1927-Florida, 2016).
Set of four chairs model VK 101A, 1950s.
Leather back.
With minor signs of use but in very good condition.
Measurements: 63 x 62 x 95 cm; 45 cm (seat height).

These chairs with their elegantly arched frame feature a leather back that flows from the top of the back rail to the padded leather seat. The slight backward angle of the legs and the elegantly sculpted seat and arm accentuate both comfort and Kagan's signature "less is more" design style.

Although of German origin, Vladimir Kagan grew up in the United States. He studied architecture at Columbia University before joining the New York woodworking shop of his father, master cabinetmaker and art collector Illi Kagan. Between 1950 and 1960, Kagan partnered with textile designer and printer Hugo Dreyfuss. Kagan's decidedly modern and sculptural furniture was quickly successful. His projects include the cocktail lounges for delegates at the first United Nations headquarters in Lake Success, New York (1947-48); the curvaceous Serpentine sofa (1949); and the iconic Omnibus seating collection (c. 1970), among others. From 1990 to 1992 he was president of the New York chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). In 1998 he reintroduced some of his classic designs at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York, formally relaunching his career. In 2008, he launched the Vladimir Kagan Couture Collection, which includes a selection of designs from the 1950s through the 21st century. And in 2015, Kagan designed a collection of limited-edition art furniture for Carpenters Workshop. The designer's work is in numerous private and public collections, including the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, among others. In 1980, the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York paid tribute to Kagan with a thirty-year retrospective exhibition: Vladimir Kagan: Three Decades of Design. In 2002, the Brooklyn Museum of Art presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award; in 2001, the Pinnacle Award from the American Society of Furniture Designers; and in 2000, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Furniture Designers.