Canapé 1895 - 1935

Editor: Here we have Léon Laroche's "Canapé", a drawing made sometime between 1895 and 1935. It has such a delicate, almost ephemeral feel. The pale colours and fine lines make it look like a memory. What springs to your mind when you look at it? Curator: Ah, yes, "Canapé". It whispers to me of whispered secrets and sun-drenched afternoons. Don’t you feel transported? It's more than just a drawing of a Louis XV sofa. It's like stepping into a Rococo daydream. The detail in the line work, especially on the legs, that flourish... it's almost like the sofa is taking a little bow. And the fabric looks so gentle I can imagine it melting into me like I was sinking into warm butter. It is funny the idea of drawing furniture instead of, you know, actually *making* it? I feel like it suggests it's aspirational – a luxury or beauty ideal instead of, I don’t know, the nuts and bolts of the home. Editor: That's an interesting perspective. The idea of aspiration hadn’t occurred to me. I was caught up in the... quietness. I suppose now you mention it, it seems as though you might admire the object from afar, which you couldn’t do if it was next to you. Curator: Precisely. And there is the romantic notion that there is nothing you can add or take from perfection. Now, ask yourself this: What is it to be the object of others' longings and daydreams, frozen in a drawing? Maybe that’s too many daydreams within daydreams! Editor: It does offer an insight into a specific ideal of beauty, doesn't it? Curator: Indeed. We've wandered a little closer to the soul of this drawing. It's a fine way to end, I think.