Title: Sittings 

Author: Vicki Goldberg
Foreword by Rolf Fehlbaum, Vitra, CEO. Photography by Christian Coigny

Publisher: Prestel Verlag, Munich, Germany © 2000,

Specs: 11.5” h x 9.25” Hardcover with dust cover. Printed in English

Pages: 96 pages, 123 Duotone photographs by Christian Coigny

ISBN: 3-7913-2482-9

Details: First Edition. Very good condition, Dust cover shows some shelf wear.

Notes from the archive: Superb photos or “images”  of icons, idols, comedians, musicians, designers, architects and politicians all doing one thing in common – sitting on Vitra chairs. The German/Swiss based Vitra company unintentionally formed an exclusive club of people from all walks of life. The “membership committee” from Vitra required these people to sit in their chairs without identification except for the name of the chair and then to be photographed seated in ergonomic bliss by a superb photographer. Over 10 years (1987 to 1997) Christian Coigny photographed cultural luminaries on Vitra chairs. Add text by Vicki Goldberg, photography critic for the New York Times, to discuss the relationship of fame, consumerism, design and the ability to “say cheese” while seated. Ms. Goldberg explains, “ With the sitters of Sittings, the object supports the person in more ways than one, and the person’s reputation supports the object in return.” Those well seated include people (over 100 in all) such as Ray Eames with her great-grandaughter, to Merce Cunningham (odd to see him seated at all), to Philip Johnson sitting backwards!, to Gary Kasparov who spent the peak of his career seated while unseating opponents. Rolf Fehlbaum, CEO of Vitra notes that the “chair was simply a prop.” Or is the reality that the individual’s and their fame are the props for the chairs?

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Related Products: Vitra Design Museum