NEW YORK, N.Y.- Sotheby’s June 17, 2004 sale of Important 20th Century Design will feature iconic "Barcelona" and "Tugendhat" furniture from the main executive reception area of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s legendary Seagram Building. Located at 375 Park Avenue, the Seagram Building was the result of a commission from 1954 to design the headquarters for the Seagram’s distillery company. Completed in the winter of 1957-58, the Director of Planning, Phyllis Lambert, and the co-architect, Philip Johnson, oversaw the selection of furniture for Seagram’s offices. The June auction will include five "Barcelona" chairs and two "Tugendhat" coffee tables designed by Mies and used in the main executive reception area and executive offices of the Seagram Building. The offering of furniture from the Seagram Building will also include a site-specific mural depicting the process of distillation by graphic designer Herbert Matter. This is one of only two murals painted by Matter and the first time one is to be offered at auction. The mural will be sold in situ and the furniture will be on public exhibition from June 13-16, 2004.

James Zemaitis, Senior Vice President and Director of 20th Century Design said, "These are the only Mies chairs and tables from the Seagram Building, circa 1958, to survive in their original condition. For collectors, the idea of owning the iconic "Barcelona" chair has always presented a conundrum. None of the first-edition chairs from 1929 are known to exist outside of institutions. And the classic Knoll reissue has been manufactured in the millions, a testament to the lasting power of the design. Here, in a rare opportunity, we are presenting examples of the model that are site-specific, and  are clearly labeled with the provenance of an architectural masterwork."

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) was born in Aachen, Germany, and worked initially as a draftsman specializing in furniture design and rendering. In the mid-1920’s he began to design furniture that he conceived and created for particular interiors. In 1929, in collaboration with Bauhaus alumnus Lilly Reich, Mies created a chair upholstered in leather and set upon a curved metal frame in the shape of an X for his landmark German Pavilion at the Barcelona International Exhibition. It was this design that was selected for the Seagram executive offices. The June auction will include five "Barcelona" chairs, designed in 1929 and executed by Knoll circa 1958, in their original condition, all of which boast the iconic Seagram/FURNITURE & FIXTURES label denoting their early inclusion in the Seagram Collection. This label was not used on later additions. The chairs, which are estimated to sell for $6/8,000 each, were installed according to the original floor plan which was retained throughout the life of the space.

The sale will also include two "Tugendhat" Coffee Tables designed by Mies in 1930 for his Tugendhat House in Brno, Czech Republic. The tables, manufactured by Knoll circa 1958, were grouped with the "Barcelona" chairs on the executive floor, and also bear the sought-after Seagram labels. The tables are estimated to sell for $2,500/3,500 each.

The auction will also include a site-specific mural by noted photographer and graphic designer Herbert Matter (1907-1984) from the 5th floor executive reception area of the Seagram Building (est. $30/50,000). Born in  Switzerland, Herbert Matter was educated at the École des Beaux Arts in Geneva and with Fernand Léger in Paris. He began his career designing posters for the Swiss National Tourist Office and Swiss resorts. Matter moved to New York in 1936 and worked as a freelancer for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, among other magazines. During the late 50s and early 60s in New York, Matter was an intimate participant in the New York art scene, counting Jackson Pollack and Lee Krasner, Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Franz Kline and Philip Guston and Alexander Calder as friends and confidants. From 1946 to 1966, after settling in the United States ten years earlier, Matter was a design consultant with Knoll Associates. Mies was also a Knoll designer and the two worked in collaboration on two projects, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Seagram Building. After the completion of the Seagram Building in 1958, Matter created the large graphic mural in the 5th floor reception area. The mural depicts the liquor-distilling process, by showing the liquids in bright colors circulating through tubes and containers. This work is only one of two large-scale, site-specific murals Matter executed, the other being in the Grosse Pointe, Michigan Public Library.

"Matter is a hero to scholars and collectors of mid-century modern design," noted Mr. Zemaitis, "and we are honored to be presenting this important mural within the context of a 20th Century design auction."