What the work is
The chair commonly called the LC4 was designed by Charlotte Perriand while she worked in the atelier of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. Both men participated in its design. The name Chaise longue à réglage continu identifies its adjustable reclining form.
How it was made
Its earlier designations include modèle B 306. Looking at the chair’s naming history is a useful reminder that the familiar LC4 label is not the complete history of its creation.
What works
As a subject for close study, it brings the relationship between posture and furniture into focus. Begin with the reclining position and ask how the chair’s arrangement addresses it.
What does not
A single designer’s name can obscure collaborative work. Keep Perriand’s role visible when describing the chair, alongside the participation of Le Corbusier and Jeanneret.
What it influenced
Compare the different names under which the design has circulated. They offer a way to study how a collaborative object becomes associated with a recognizable label, without assuming that a label tells the whole story.
Is it worth your time
It is worth studying for both the problem of reclining and the question of design credit. Those two lines of inquiry give a more precise starting point than treating it simply as a modernist icon.