Queen Anne Side Chair 1936

Alvin Gully’s ‘Queen Anne Side Chair’ from 1936 is a painting on paper where he’s really taken time to render light and shadow. I can imagine Gully carefully observing every curve and joint of this chair, and then trying to recreate that on paper. The tonal range of the wood is delicately rendered with thin paint and it looks like he may have added thin glazes, allowing the color to build up slowly. I can see him, squinting, palette in hand, really wanting to nail the 3D form on a flat surface. I am especially drawn to the way Gully has handled the seat, with the hatching creating a wonderful sense of woven texture. To describe the chair, he’s really had to look. Gully's approach reminds me of other painters, like Fairfield Porter, who found profound beauty in the everyday. There's something so humble, yet deeply observant, in this quiet study of a functional object. It’s a reminder that painting, at its heart, is about seeing and celebrating the world around us.