Scarce Eileen Gray Furniture Designs Attract Interest–and High Prices

The furniture designed by Eileen Gray from the 1920s into the 1960s is selling for high prices. Gray (1878-1976) was born in Ireland, went to school in Paris in 1902 and eventually moved there permanently. She made her furniture herself and learned to use Japanese lacquer. Her designs were noticed after World War I, almost forgotten after World War II, and rediscovered in the late 1960s. In the past few years, her 1919 Dragons armchair auctioned for $28.3 million and one of her lacquered screens sold for more than $1.8 million. The rights…