Notable Pictures, Inspiring Chairs

Katherine Bogden  

I’m an avid reader, and because sometimes I find the couch a little too comfortable I’ve been daydreaming about purchasing a modest chair, which I think is just what I need to keep my eyes on the page.

Until this week, I had been ogling chairs in decorator’s magazines, store displays, and those quick glimpses through the windows of the handsomely decorated brownstones of my Brooklyn neighborhood.

And then, I found myself  jealously eyeing the chairs in some of the paintings in the gallery’s collection. Here are a few I've noticed:

Nicolai Cikovsky, Flowers on a Chair

(oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches)

The blue-green chair in this picture expresses the painting’s simple and homey ambiance. Its  square legs and flat seat, which hold a vase of wildflowers, suggest stability. The touches of green throughout the picture, coupled with the portrait on the far wall, create a sense of life even without a human presence. The color of the chair draws in the those of the lush growth outside the window. Like the overall simplicity of the composition, the plainness of the wooden chair appeals to me, and its hard, straight back would certainly help me stay awake when reading.

 

William Glackens, Unfinished Nude

(1920s, oil on canvas, 32 x 26 inches)

Glackens’s handling of the chair-fabric in this picture is soft and delicate. The bold orange and plush quilting suggest both luxury and comfort. Although the sitter is the focus of the painting, the chair is not lost, it works to both frame the model and set her apart from the simple background. (Although the chair’s armlessness might present a problem for reading, as sometimes I like to rest a book just-so, or prop an elbow on the armrest after a long day.)

Gershon Benjamin, Lady on the Green Chair

(ca. 1935, pastel on brown paper, 27 x 20 inches)

The straight-back Victorian-style piece in this painting is upholstered with a green, patterned material which could seem overly formal, yet the slouched, relaxed posture of the sitter suggests to me the chair is both snug and a space to relax. Like the chair above it isn't the focus here, but is essential to the composition—it seems inevitable that the sitter has found this particular chair to sit in at this particular moment.

—For more information, or too see additional work by each artist, click on the artists' names—