Spindle Settee Chest 1935 - 1942

This is a drawing of a settle chest by Roberta Elvis. The drawing has been made using what looks like graphite and watercolor. I am always interested in the way artists depict furniture. It’s a funny little drawing, isn’t it? I can imagine Elvis planning the piece: the wood, the shape, the lines, and the curves. I wonder if Elvis was a chair maker? What kind of thoughts did she have while making it? It's a practical piece of furniture, and so the drawing is very down to earth. When you look closely, you can see how the artist built it up with very thin washes of colour. It reminds me that making is a process and that each drawing or piece of furniture is a step in that process. It's nice to see the side elevation too: the artist really understood the shape and form of the object she was designing. It gives you a different way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world through furniture.