Design for Spanish Chair 1835 - 1900

Curator: At first glance, this looks like an illustration of something Marie Antoinette might have lounging around on! A bit Rococo in its spirit? Editor: Indeed. We're looking at Robert William Hume's "Design for Spanish Chair," which dates to sometime between 1835 and 1900. The work is rendered in ink, etching, and drawing. It's currently held here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What feelings or symbols jump out for you in this piece? Curator: Definitely the decadence, I’m taken by the rather improbable shape. It's so delicate, balanced precariously on what looks like slender, almost ornamental legs. You can feel a real shift away from classical, more weighty forms of furniture design. What associations does the piece evoke for you? Editor: For me, it's the light touch of color. That delicate pink, especially against the detailed, almost skeletal etching of the frame, feels whimsical but maybe even a bit ghostly. It's decorative-art and suggests it has the power to be brought into being; it might even be a salesman sample! There’s almost something ephemeral about it. As if this is just a fleeting vision of opulence. Is it solid and enduring? Or delicate, passing, decorative and unrealized? It might exist now, in real life! Curator: The chair's form itself hints at Spain's influence through France at the time. There's a distinct lightness, as if the artist wants to transport the occupant, literally and figuratively, to somewhere more dreamlike. The curves almost look as though they were drawn without any practical considerations for the poor individual expected to recline on it! A fascinating expression of wealth as display, or art as something impractical! Editor: Absolutely. I'm left considering the complex relationship between design and utility. Is this object meant to serve, or merely to be seen? It leaves me wondering who dreamed up this fanciful object. Thank you, this was interesting. Curator: Agreed, a lovely reflection on decorative ambition.