Ladder Back Chair 1935 - 1942

Florence Grant Brown made this watercolour drawing of a ladder back chair, and, you know, it's all about the process, right? The colours, they're not shouting, but whispering, like an old memory. It's incredible how Brown uses the watercolour, so thin, almost transparent. You can see the paper underneath, which gives the whole piece a kind of lightness. Focus on the seat. Look at that woven texture – it’s like a little abstract painting in itself! The way she suggests the weave, it's not about perfection. It's a looser, more intuitive kind of mark-making. Like she’s riffing on the idea of a chair, not just copying what's in front of her. It reminds me a little of some of Fairfield Porter's more domestic scenes, that same attention to the beauty of the everyday. And just like Porter, Brown shows us there’s always something more to see if we just take a moment.