As I browsed before an auction recently, I was struck by the unusual colors and designs of several chairs in the furniture room.
A Lucite chair with a Mount Rushmore image on its cushion. A lime-green plastic chair with the word “DADA.” A crazy-quilt green upholstered chair that was hard on my eyes. Two ball-shaped chairs the color of mustard.
So how in the heck did I miss the Marilyn lips sofa?
I didn’t realize it was in the auction until later when I was checking the prices of the other chairs on liveauctioneers.com, an online-bidding service. The chair was apparently designed to represent Marilyn’s trademark pouty red lips. Click on the photo above for a full view of the sofa.
The Marilyn-designed sofa was made in Gufram, Italy, in the early 1970s by a company called Studio 65, which called it the Bocca chair. Several sites said the chairs were imported by a New York company called Stendig Inc.
The auction house described it as “Stendig Italy Marilyn Lips Sofa Love Seat. Classic Design.” The sofa had the Stendig label, along with some stains and fading on the fabric. It sold for $550.
A 1986 Marilyn sofa from the home of Charles Stendig sold for $6,000 last year at an auction in Chicago. Five to six years ago, several sold for up to $2,800.
It was not the first piece of furniture inspired by a Hollywood legend’s lips. In 1936, artist Salvador Dali designed the Mae West sofa that was upholstered in the famous shocking pink color made popular by Elsa Schiaparelli.
Here are descriptions from the auction sheet, prices and photos of some of the other unusual chairs:
1970s Mod Lucite and chrome chair with artist-painted seat (resembling Mount Rushmore), $450. Click on the photo above for a full view.
Decorator hooded lounge chair with arms and X base, $375.
Robert Loughlin’s painted Eames chair. DADA. Unsigned. Hand-painted portrait on green Herman Miller Eames chair, $325.
Pair 1970s modern ball chairs with sculpted seats. Unmarked, $350.
Geoffrey Harcourt for Artifort lounge chair with Brad Larsen fabric upholstery. Colorful green, yellow and black mod upholstery. White pedestal base. Unmarked. $550.
