Conchoidal Chair without Arms (Perspective sketch)
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
American, born Germany. 1886–1969
early 1940s
A pencil-on-paper perspective sketch in which Mies van der Rohe experiments with a low, armless “Conchoidal” chair, testing how a single flowing seat and minimal supports could combine comfort and structure.
Sparse, tentative graphite strokes define a sweeping, shell-like seat and slender, arching legs set against a wide blank field, making the chair feel both materially present and like a fleeting idea.
This working drawing shows Mies’s method of reducing form to essentials—translating architectural principles of economy and structural clarity into furniture design that helped define modernist seating.
Medium
Pencil on paper
Dimensions
6 x 8 5/16" (15.2 x 21.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Mies van der Rohe Archive, gift of the architect
Accession
1071.1974
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
