Toy Chair c. 1936

Edith Magnette made this drawing, called 'Toy Chair', at an unknown date using graphite on paper. It's a technical drawing, not a 'picture' picture, which is interesting in itself. The pale graphite lines remind me of the ghost of a chair, or maybe the idea of a chair rather than a real one you can actually sit on. See how she's mapped out the different views of the chair - head-on, side-on, from above? It's like she's thinking about all the different ways we can understand a single object. I'm drawn to the way she's detailed the woven seat, all those tiny lines criss-crossing, which creates a beautiful texture. It almost feels like a painting, even though it's just a diagram. Maybe it reminded her of the conversation between different art forms, from the functional to the purely aesthetic. That's what art is all about, right? A constant exchange of ideas, a back-and-forth across time and space. It's never just one thing, it's always multiple things all at once.