Design on Back of Hitchcock Chair c. 1936

Curator: Let's delve into this preparatory study from around 1936, a piece entitled "Design on Back of Hitchcock Chair" by Lawrence Flynn. It's a vibrant exploration rendered in pencil and coloured pencil on paper. Editor: Well, the first thing that strikes me is how meticulously rendered it is. Almost reverential. You could practically reach out and pluck those… are those eggs? Curator: Indeed. The work speaks to broader questions about the commodification of everyday objects within the decorative arts and their relation to ideas about domesticity, consumption and, dare I say, nostalgia. Editor: Nostalgia, definitely. There’s something deeply comforting about this image – a feeling of being in grandma's cozy kitchen maybe. The arrangement of the eggs and fruit feels almost like a still life you’d see in a Dutch Golden Age painting, just transferred onto something you sit on. A very democratic impulse at work, don't you think? Curator: I think it's about aspiration and class. Chairs, like this Hitchcock design, become signifiers of bourgeois values accessible to a broader public. This drawing is important because it exposes this tension between mass-produced and uniquely-crafted art. It also suggests the politics embedded in something as ordinary as furniture. Who gets to rest, and on what terms? Editor: Mmm, I’m getting ideas now for an installation that critiques disposable culture. Like taking all these chairs and repurposing them as a massive sculpture… anyway, I appreciate your deconstruction here, as always! Curator: Thank you! It's been fascinating to consider the various interpretations held within a design study for a humble chair. Editor: Absolutely. A chair’s just a chair, unless you really *look*, you know? Until next time!