Eileen Gray is now celebrated as a pioneer of modern design and one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century, together with Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand, Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Gerrit Rietveld and Charles Eames.

Her Bibendum chair and E.1027 table are today familiar icons around the world, while E.1027 and Tempe à Pailla – two houses that she built and furnished entirely with her own designs – are cited among the purest examples of Twenties and Thirties architecture.

Peter Adam, a long-time friend of Gray’s, has had privileged access to her surviving correspondence, drawings and journals as well as her architectural sketchbooks and photographic archives. From these sources he has built up a full-scale picture of her eventful life, from her aristocratic beginnings in Ireland, to the extravagant Art Deco period in Paris, and her productive years in the south of France.

Enriched by a wealth of previously unpublished material and an extensive plates section in full colour and duotone, this volume is a mine of rare and fascinating information which reveals above all the contemporary relevance of Eileen Gray’s work.

A woman among Modernists