Chieftain Chair

Why it is renowned

The Art Institute of Chicago holds a Chieftain Armchair of 1949 in teak and leather, made by Niels Vodder and Ivan Schlechter.¹ House of Finn Juhl counts it among the pieces that carried Danish Modern to the United States in the 1950s.² When it was shown in Copenhagen in 1949, the critic Svend Erik Møller called Juhl the leading furniture designer in the world.³

The story

Finn Juhl drew the chair in the spring of 1949, starting with a sketch at home one morning and painting it by the early hours of the next day.² He showed it that year at the Cabinetmakers' Guild Exhibition in Copenhagen, beside pictures of weapons and crafts from tribal cultures that had inspired it.²⁴ King Frederik sat in it there; asked whether it should be called the King Chair, Juhl answered that it was designed for some chieftain.³ As in much of his furniture, the frame that carries the load stands apart from the seat and back it holds.² House of Finn Juhl relaunched it in 2002 as model FJ 4900, with a frame in walnut or oak and leather upholstered by hand in Denmark.²

What to know it by

• Chieftain Chair1949Finn JuhlModel FJ 4900, walnut or oak with leather
• Chieftain Footstool1953Finn JuhlFootstool