High Back Side Chair 1937

This high-backed side chair was made by Louis Annino. The materials are wood and woven cane, carefully rendered in watercolor on paper. The design is a riot of turnings and scrollwork. Look closely, and you'll see that the maker has left no surface unadorned. Notice the woven cane seat: a craft tradition still practiced today. But what to make of all this ornament? It smothers the chair, making it less an object of utility, and more a demonstration of practiced skill. This drawing gives us some clues. It was made not by a craftsman, but by a draughtsman, rendering an object at a remove. We see a society moving away from handcraft, and towards design as a specialized practice. The artist is no longer a maker, but an interpreter, celebrating the work of others. The drawing is an artifact of that transition.