Side Chair c. 1937

Editor: This watercolour illustration is titled "Side Chair" by Charles Squires, created around 1937. It has a calming effect due to its soft colours and delicate lines. What symbolic features can you identify in this particular design? Curator: Notice how Squires renders the chair's details. The shell motif at the crest and knees? It evokes both pilgrimage and shelter, doesn't it? Consider, too, the cabriole legs terminating in those powerful, almost animalistic, claw-and-ball feet. They ground the chair, yet they hint at upward movement, aspiration. Do you see any tension there? Editor: I do. The seashell evokes journeys and rest, and the feet create a grounded and striving impression at once! What do you think it could represent, symbolically? Curator: This juxtaposition speaks volumes. The chair becomes a vessel, doesn't it? It offers repose after a long journey - but toward what end? Perhaps it symbolizes the delicate balance between earthly existence and spiritual yearning, a negotiation central to human experience. Look how Squires's style seems intentionally sparse to create a clear icon. Editor: So the image offers cultural continuity through carefully selected visual elements. Now, looking at the composition as a whole, the symbolism feels quite deliberate. Curator: Precisely. Squires is drawing on centuries of visual language to subtly express a powerful cultural narrative. It makes me wonder what sort of stories were told and imagined around a dinner table surrounded by these chairs! Editor: I’m leaving with an appreciation for how mundane objects can be embedded with deeply resonant symbolism. Curator: Indeed! Squires's chair isn’t just a place to sit; it's a repository of cultural memory.