Pembroke Table 1936

This is Florence Choate’s "Pembroke Table," a watercolor on paper that’s got me thinking about furniture, portraiture, and all the possibilities in between. There’s something so deliberate about the way Choate has rendered this table. I can almost see her, squinting, trying to get the light just right on the wood grain, capturing the sheen of the varnish. She's almost coaxing the table into existence, laying down each careful stroke, one after the other. There’s a real tenderness here, as if the table were a beloved friend that she has studied it from every angle, tracing its curves and corners. It makes me wonder: what was Choate thinking about as she painted? Was she imagining the table in a grand drawing room, the site of conversation and gatherings? Or was she simply captivated by the table's form, the way the light played across its surface? However we look at it, it's a beautiful act of attention.