Design for Brougham/D'Orsay 1875 - 1885

This is a design for a Brougham, or D’Orsay carriage, created with pen and watercolor on paper. The design is dominated by its stark black body, sharply contrasting with the white background. Notice the use of line to construct the intricate wheel and suspension system. The wheels themselves, perfect circles, are bisected by thin, radiating spokes, all anchored to a central, golden hub. This circular motif is echoed in the curved lines of the carriage's frame, creating a dynamic interplay between geometric precision and fluid motion. The dark, solid mass of the carriage body is set off by the delicate tracery of the wheels. The design's aesthetic resonates with broader themes of industrial innovation and artistic representation. By reducing the carriage to its essential lines and forms, the artist invites us to consider the underlying structure of this object, and, by extension, the structural forces shaping the world around us. The tension between form and function, line and mass, encapsulates the spirit of an age grappling with new modes of transportation, representation, and perception.