Side Chair 1935 - 1942

This drawing of a ‘Side Chair’ was made anonymously with watercolour and graphite, and it feels like a meditation on form. The way the artist has used layers of thin, transparent washes of colour reminds me that art making is really about building things up. The detail of the floral print on the cushion and loose fabric is so meticulously drawn. You can see where the artist has used the graphite to create shadows and depth, building up tone over several layers. I love the way the artist has included deconstructed sections of the chair, breaking down the overall form into its component parts. It's as if they’re saying, 'look, this is how it’s made,' laying bare the bones of the chair. It reminds me of some of the surrealist painters like Giorgio de Chirico who used fragmented forms to create a sense of unease and mystery. Ultimately, it's about how we see and understand the world around us, breaking it down and reassembling it in new and unexpected ways.