Armstoel van beukenhout 1775 - 1800

Editor: Here we have what's described as a beech armchair, dating roughly from 1775 to 1800 and attributed to Georges Jacob. It's quite a stately piece, but the worn upholstery gives it such a vulnerable feeling. What social stories does this particular object evoke for you? Curator: The tattered state is precisely where the interest lies, isn't it? Consider its historical context. Neoclassicism, with its emphasis on order and rationality, was heavily promoted and employed by ruling class! Yet this chair presents us with a very physical counterpoint to those ideals. It’s literally falling apart! It encourages a consideration of who used it, what its life might have been through varied periods of societal turbulence... Who *today* is in a position to 'own' it and 'restore' it? Editor: So the visible disrepair speaks to broader social narratives of that period, the cracks showing through the veneer of order. It’s a very direct challenge to our ideas of art ownership today as well... Curator: Exactly! It allows us to speculate about the shifts in taste, power, and value over time. We often view art in the rarefied setting of a museum, obscuring its original function. An object like this allows the audience to directly engage with art's place within socio-economic ecosystems of the past, and our present, too. Who gets to sit, and on what? Editor: It's incredible how a simple chair, or what's left of one, can raise such complex questions about value, power, and history! Curator: And perhaps also encourages us to contemplate on what is really 'classic,' versus the realities of social evolution! What do we discard, and what do we preserve? What kind of social narratives do you see emerge in that chair now? Editor: I didn't consider all those layers. I will think about it the next time I encounter seemingly ordinary pieces! Curator: Precisely. It challenges how we perceive objects, prompting a deeper questioning of their historical and social weight.