Miner's Chair - Hand Made c. 1940

Rose Campbell-Gerke made this drawing of a handmade miner's chair, sometime in the 20th century, using pencil and watercolour. Look at how she builds up the image with these thin, washy layers! The colour is all very close in tone, warm browns and tans, like sun-bleached wood. You can really sense the grain of the wood, the rough-hewn quality of the chair itself. It’s as if Campbell-Gerke is feeling around with her eyes, using watercolour to bring out the texture. She lets the pencil lines show through, adding to that feeling. Take a close look at the legs, how they cross over each other. There's something almost abstract about the geometry of it all. It reminds me a bit of those early cubist still lifes, where the artists were trying to show you all sides of an object at once. Another artist who comes to mind is Marsden Hartley, who also had a real appreciation for the beauty of everyday, working-class objects. Ultimately, it shows us that art can be found in the most unexpected places.