Child's Rocking Chair

Editor: This colored-pencil and pencil drawing, “Child's Rocking Chair,” created in 1939 by Clarence Secor, is surprisingly detailed. It really highlights the textures and joinery of this small chair, especially with the inclusion of what seems to be technical plans on the side. What jumps out at you? Curator: The focus on a child's rocking chair, depicted with such attention to material and construction, invites a materialist reading. Consider the implications of the choice of materials. Wood, textile, and what looks like possibly even leatherette – all sourced, crafted, and assembled. Who had access to these materials during the pre-war period, and what social class did it represent? Editor: So you're saying the materials themselves are significant, even more so than the simple depiction of a chair? Curator: Exactly. Think about the labor involved. Someone designed this, selected materials, constructed the chair. Was it mass-produced, indicating industrialization and commodity culture, or handcrafted, signaling artisanal labor and a possibly personalized transaction? Even the colored-pencil medium itself can tell us about art practices and availability. Editor: I never considered that. The realism seems less about just depicting the chair, and more about showing how it was made. What do you make of the presence of that deconstructed rocking chair mechanism next to it? Curator: Ah, that supplemental deconstruction underscores the intent. It removes any pretense of mere aesthetic appreciation. It insists we grapple with the chair’s *making.* It is an invitation to understanding labor, material and consumer culture intertwined. Does this new reading shift your view of the drawing? Editor: Definitely. I see it now as less about the 'subject' and more about how this chair came to be, from design to material. It’s about the work and access more than aesthetics. I'll have to keep an eye out for details on production from now on. Thanks!