In 1939 Walt Disney Studios purchased hundreds of Airline Chairs for their new studio in Burbank, Lo

In 1939 Walt Disney Studios purchased hundreds of Airline Chairs for their new studio in Burbank, Los Angeles. Designed by Kem Weber in 1934-35, the streamlined wood frame was intended to be inexpensive, sold in a box, and assembled by the customer. But the chair never went into major mass production and most examples of the Airline Chair in existence today are from the Disney group, all made by a local California cabinetry firm. Image SourceThroughout the 20th century (and various redecoration campaigns at Disney) many of the chairs have found their way into museums across the world. The Brooklyn Museum example entered the collection in 1991 with a brown upholstered seat and back. The catalogue records at Brooklyn and many other museums indicate this material is Naugahyde - imitation leather made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) plastic coating atop a knit fabric backing. This would have been an early use of Naugahyde, which was trademarked in 1936, and makes the chair an even more interesting example of the era.  Recently we have noticed a surface condition—an uneven liquid exudate—that has developed on the upholstery of the Brooklyn Museum chair and has been noted on some chairs in other museum collections. Analysis of the cover upholstery and the surface deposits will help answer questions about the condition of this material. If it is indeed PVC, we know from previous research that we can anticipate degradation that results in the leaching of a plasticizer. But perhaps this effect is related to a later surface treatment that was applied to just some of the chairs—like a commercial cleaning agent, wax or leather dressing.From a Conservation perspective we are interested in determining if the upholstered components of the chair are actively deteriorating and finding ways to arrest that reaction. Because the chairs share a similar history, answering questions and developing solutions for one chair contributes to the preservation of the entire group. Posted by Kate Wight Tyler -- source link

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