Sofa c. 1937

Ferdinand Cartier made this drawing of a sofa with watercolor and graphite, on paper. The first thing that strikes me is the way the green stripes create this optical vibration, like a Bridget Riley painting. The texture is so flat but he has created the illusion of depth with color and line. I love the way that the back of the sofa rises and falls like a wave. And the little legs, so delicate and refined, holding up the weight of all that green. When I look at the graphite lines of the wood, they are not hard or precise, there is a softness to them. Maybe it is the way that Cartier has let the medium flow. It reminds me of the way that Bonnard captured the domestic interior, with the same sense of intimacy and warmth. Art is a conversation across time, and Cartier seems to be speaking to us from the past.