SIR BASIL SPENCE (1907-1976)

Subsequent to his early training in India with Edwin Lutyens, Basil Spence matured as one of the most significant Post-War British architects of the Twentieth Century, operating in a highly distinctive manner that came to define the monumental style of contemporary British architecture. Noted commissions include Sussex University (1962), Glasgow Airport (1966), and Coventry Cathedral (1954-1962), for which he received a knighthood. A wartime member of the Camouflage Development Unit of the British Army, Spence's early Post-War career included the position of consultant architect for the influential 1946 Victoria & Albert Museum exhibition Britain Can Make It, and was designer of the Sea & Ships Pavillion at the 1951 Festival of Britain.

Commissioned in 1947 by Neil Morris of the manufacturer Morris of Glasgow to collaborate on a range of furniture, Spence created the present suite. Awarded a diploma by the Council of Industrial Design in January 1949, the suite was exhibited at the Glasgow Today and Tomorrow in March, where it was commended, and an additional example of the armchair commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In September the suite was transferred to the Scottish Industries Exhibition.

The suite is remarkable for its innovative machine construction, which is dependent entirely upon the complex shaping of laminated timbers. As a wartime manufacturer of the all-wood aircraft the Mosquito and the Hurricane, Morris of Glasgow were unique in their ability to provide the technical expertise required to create the furnishings. The suite is acknowledged as a landmark in immediate Post-War British furniture design. Examples of the chair have been in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, since 1949, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, since 1951.