Klismos: The revival of ancient Greek furniture by T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Saridis of Athens

A lecture by George Manginis (Benaki Museum)

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

38 West 86th Street, Lecture Hall

gallery@bgc.bard.edu

$15 General | $12 Seniors | Free for people associated with a college or university, people with museum ID, people with disabilities and caregivers, and BGC members

In May 1961 the king and queen of Greece attended the opening of an exhibition at the furniture factory of Eleftherios Saridis in central Athens. Twenty-six items by American designer T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings were arranged alongside photographs of ancient furniture that had been revived down to the last detail in walnut wood, bronze, marble, leather, and handloomed fabric. The archaeological accuracy with which their designer had worked seemingly contradicted his modernist principles. Yet, the result was strikingly contemporary and met with acclaim and commercial success. Klismos furniture has been perceived as an episode of postwar American design history, and the country that was both its source of inspiration and place of manufacture has not been brought into the discussion. In this lecture, archaeologist and art historian George Manginis will focus on Robsjohn-Gibbing’s Athenian legacy, the people involved in it, and the tumultuous and exciting time of its creation.

An Archaeological Encounters lecture.

Dr. George Manginis is the academic director of the Benaki Museum in Athens. He has taught the history of Byzantine, Islamic, and Chinese art at various universities and museums, including the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; the Courtauld Institute; the University of Edinburgh; the British Museum; and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. In 2013 he was a Stanley J. Seeger Fellow at Princeton University. His monographs include Mount Sinai: A History of Travellers and Pilgrims (2016); China Rediscovered: The Benaki Museum Collection of Chinese Ceramics (2016); and Ceramics from Korea at the Benaki Museum: The George Eumorfopoulos Collection (2021). He has also published research on Islamic art and architecture, Cypriot prehistory, the Greek and Armenian diasporas, and European decorative arts.

Image: Carlton W. Pullin, Susan and Eleftherios Saridis, and T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings at the opening of the Furniture Museum, Athens, May 1961. Saridis of Athens Collection.