Steel and plywood armchair, ‘Antelope’ designed by Ernest Race.
Identifier
FPF462
Title
Steel and plywood armchair, ‘Antelope’ designed by Ernest Race.
Date
Designed in 1951.
Description
Steel rod and plywood armchair designed by Ernest Race for the Festival of Britain, 1951.
Full Description
The Antelope chair was designed by Ernest Race for the 1951 Festival of Britain, held on the South Bank in London to celebrate Britain’s recovery and achievements following the Second World War. It was a café chair for use on the outdoor terraces of the Festival Hall, overlooking the Thames. Made of steel rod and a plywood seat with cast aluminium ball feet, it complied with Utility restrictions. The plywood seats were originally painted in the Festival colours of yellow, blue, red or grey. In this chair the seat and metal frame are painted in white, which appears to be original. The chairs went into commercial production in the 1950s. There was a 2-seater version as well, and tables.
The Antelope chair combined a light-hearted spirit of optimism which suited the Festival with echoes of both the past in the traditional stick-back Windsor chair form and the future in the atomic imagery of the ball feet. The ball feet were subsequently used on other products in the 1950s such as coat racks, lampstands and clocks. The Antelope chair possibly influenced Arne Jacobsen's Ant Chair designed in 1955, which has a steel rod frame with a laminated seat and back in one piece.
Ernest Race studied interior design at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, graduating in 1935; In his early career he designed lighting and textiles, and in 1945 he joined engineer Noel Jordan to found Ernest Race Ltd, aiming to design and manufacture low-cost contemporary furniture, based in Clapham, South London. Ernest Race's first design was the BA3 chair, an innovative cast aluminium chair designed in 1946 and shown at the V&A's ‘Britain Can Make It’ exhibition in that year; the chairs used salvaged aluminium from redundant aircraft and recycled fabric made for the Royal Air Force. In 1955 he designed the Heron armchair, again an innovative design, an example of which is in the Museum of the Home collection. In 1953 he was made a Royal Designer for Industry. He died in 1964. The company is still in business as Race Furniture, owned by Ocee International, manufacturer of office and contract furniture, which is still making both the Antelope and BA3 chairs as part of the Ernest Race Heritage Collection.
The Antelope chair combined a light-hearted spirit of optimism which suited the Festival with echoes of both the past in the traditional stick-back Windsor chair form and the future in the atomic imagery of the ball feet. The ball feet were subsequently used on other products in the 1950s such as coat racks, lampstands and clocks. The Antelope chair possibly influenced Arne Jacobsen's Ant Chair designed in 1955, which has a steel rod frame with a laminated seat and back in one piece.
Ernest Race studied interior design at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, graduating in 1935; In his early career he designed lighting and textiles, and in 1945 he joined engineer Noel Jordan to found Ernest Race Ltd, aiming to design and manufacture low-cost contemporary furniture, based in Clapham, South London. Ernest Race's first design was the BA3 chair, an innovative cast aluminium chair designed in 1946 and shown at the V&A's ‘Britain Can Make It’ exhibition in that year; the chairs used salvaged aluminium from redundant aircraft and recycled fabric made for the Royal Air Force. In 1955 he designed the Heron armchair, again an innovative design, an example of which is in the Museum of the Home collection. In 1953 he was made a Royal Designer for Industry. He died in 1964. The company is still in business as Race Furniture, owned by Ocee International, manufacturer of office and contract furniture, which is still making both the Antelope and BA3 chairs as part of the Ernest Race Heritage Collection.
Condition
The white painted finish has chips missing, exposing the rusted steel beneath. There is no sign of other colours on the seat or frame, apart from blue/green tones on two of the ball feet.
Materials
Steel.
Plywood.
Aluminium.
Plywood.
Aluminium.
Physical Dimensions
H. 77
W. 53
D. 59
W. 53
D. 59
Provenance
Designed by Ernest Race in 1951 for use at the Festival of Britain in 1951. Purchased by the Frederick Parker Foundation in September 2007 for £350.
Notes
Lesley Jackson, Modern British Furniture, Design since 1945, V&A Publishing, 2013, pp. 101-7.
V&A collection, W11: 1, 2-2013 and W35-2010.
Antelope | Race, Ernest | V&A Explore The Collections
V&A collection, W11: 1, 2-2013 and W35-2010.
Antelope | Race, Ernest | V&A Explore The Collections
