Hepplewhite Chair c. 1936

Samuel Fineman, sometime between 1855 and 1995, brought the Hepplewhite Chair to life on paper. It looks like it was made with watercolors. The lines are careful, tight, as if Fineman approached this task with the precision of an architect, not the free-flowing abandon of a painter. I imagine Fineman hunched over his drawing board, squinting to get every angle just right. Maybe he was thinking about the geometry hidden within the chair's curves. Did he consider how the light would play off the polished wood, or the way the green cushion might sink under your weight? The chair itself has a quiet dignity, but Fineman’s interpretation makes it dance a little. There’s a conversation happening here between design and art. One inspires the other, and we're all invited to pull up a chair.