Hand-Carved Armchair c. 1941

This hand-carved armchair was designed by Cornelius Christoffels, who was born in 1879 and died in 1960. The chair is made up of browns, oranges, and reds. When I look at it, I imagine Cornelius working away in his studio, carving bits off the chair's frame with his tools, revealing the chair through careful and repetitive gestures. I really feel for this guy, his design here is based on a feeling of old-world comfort. It's an ode to history. Cornelius would have sat in this armchair after a long day in his studio. You can tell because it’s got these paw-like feet. It would have been a bit like the other furniture he might have seen, but it’s also his own thing. I think he really wants us to see and feel that connection to the past. It’s his spin on an old language, and in this way, we painters are all the same.