Side Chair (one of a pair) 1937

Ruth Bialostosky made this delicate rendering of a chair in watercolor on paper, and what I notice first is the way she uses a consistent, repeated stroke to describe the form. It's like she's patiently building the chair, mark by mark. And those marks! They feel both descriptive and a bit wonky, like she's letting the hand have its say in how the chair comes together. There's a real tenderness in how she approaches the woven seat, each strand getting its own attention, a warm ochre that contrasts with the cooler brown of the frame. You can feel the hand of the artist in the controlled yet slightly imperfect lines, giving it a human quality. It reminds me a bit of Fairfield Porter's domestic interiors, that same celebration of the everyday object, elevated through the simple act of looking and painting. It’s like Bialostosky is saying, "even a chair has its own story to tell, its own beauty to be discovered."