Child's Chair (View of Seat Bottom) c. 1938

Cora Parker made this watercolor drawing of a child’s chair, from what looks like the early to mid 20th century. The perspective she chose really complicates what could have been a simple image; we’re looking up at the bottom of the chair, which is kind of weird, right? But that perspective is so important because it emphasizes the materiality of the chair itself. You can see the rough texture of the woven seat, and the way the light filters through the gaps. The color palette is really muted, mostly browns and tans, which gives the chair a worn, well-used feel. Look at the way she renders the legs of the chair; there’s a kind of fuzziness to the edges, like she's trying to capture the way the light softens the hard edges of the wood. There's something about the image that reminds me of Fairfield Porter, who also had a knack for finding beauty in everyday scenes. But whereas Porter's work is often more polished, Parker's has a raw, almost folk-art quality to it. And for me, that roughness is where the real beauty lies.