March 28, 2026 | “It was simple furniture, you see, and we were makers of it:” Book Talk with Martha Deese
Saturday, March 28, 4 p.m.
Crowley Theater, 98 S. Austin St., Marfa, Texas

Chinati invites you to a talk by the author Martha Deese organized in conjunction with Oscar Hagerman: Sillas de México (on view through June 21, 2026). Deese will speak about the English furniture designer Gerald Summers, his partner Marjorie Butcher, and their London firm, Makers of Simple Furniture (1931–1940), whose impressive range of works in plywood helped define the modern interior in Britain. 

“It was simple furniture, you see, and we were makers of it” – Marjorie Butcher

The firm and its founders are the subject of Deese’s recent book, Gerald Summers & Marjorie Butcher: Makers of Simple Furniture, 1931–1940, published by Hatje Cantz.

Related event: El patio de mi casa by Carlos Hagerman screening
Friday, March 27, 7:30 p.m.
Locker Plant, 135 E. Oak St.
Free

Related event: open viewing of Oscar Hagerman: Sillas de México
Saturday, March 28, 1–3 p.m.
Chinati Foundation, 1 Cavalry Row
Free

Martha Deese is an authority on the English furniture designer Gerald Summers (1899–1967). She holds a master’s degree in decorative art history from Cooper-Hewitt Museum/Parsons School of Design and worked for three decades as an administrator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

For over 50 years, architect and designer Oscar Hagerman has created furniture and buildings in harmony with the material, aesthetic, and social visions of the rural Mexican communities with whom he works. Oscar Hagerman: Sillas de México, on view through June 21, 2026, compiles a selection of four of his chair typologies, exhibited on a petate mat and displayed alongside design drawings. Learn more.