Chair c. 1937

John Sullivan made this watercolour painting of a chair, though we don't know exactly when. It looks like he was really interested in the surface of things, how light falls across the curves of the wood. The painting has a pale, almost faded quality. The brown of the wood is built up from many thin layers of paint, and I wonder if he was trying to capture the way the varnish deepens the colour. Then there's the seat itself, where the patterned fabric creates a little optical buzz, a point of focus amid all the soft washes. Look at the chair's legs, how they curve like calligraphy, a single fluid line defining their form. Each mark seems carefully considered, a process of slowly building up the image. Sullivan reminds me a little of Edward Hopper, in that both artists bring a quiet attentiveness to everyday objects. And like Hopper, Sullivan finds a strange beauty in the mundane. Ultimately, art is about seeing the world anew, finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.