Writing Armchair 1940

Rolland Livingstone rendered this "Writing Armchair" with a delicate touch. Notice the chair's spindle back and the smooth, curved armrests, motifs echoing those found in domestic spaces throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. The attached writing surface evokes a sense of introspection and scholarly pursuit. One cannot help but think of the writing desks in Jan van Eyck's paintings, where saints and scholars are depicted in quiet contemplation. This image, however, is devoid of a figure. It is a space waiting to be inhabited. The chair becomes a stage for our own desires and aspirations, a symbolic vessel for the act of creation. The empty chair speaks to the cyclical nature of creativity, forever awaiting the return of its muse.