Carved Chair 1935 - 1942

Joseph Sudek drew this ‘Carved Chair’ with what looks like charcoal or graphite, and a real close attention to form. It's interesting how Sudek builds the chair out of these marks, almost like he’s constructing it in real time right in front of us. There's a kind of weight and solidity to the chair, but it's also got this delicate, almost fragile quality, given the medium. I find myself drawn to the way he’s captured the texture of the wood, all those little grooves and patterns. It’s so detailed, you can almost feel the grain under your fingertips. And then there's the way he’s handled the light. It reminds me a little bit of Piranesi's etchings, in the way he creates this kind of atmospheric depth with just a few simple lines. I think what I love most about this drawing is that it's not just a picture of a chair, it's a portrait of a relationship. The relationship between the artist and the object, the object and the viewer, and maybe even the object and itself.