Prairie Schooner Seat c. 1937

Wilbur M Rice painted this ‘Prairie Schooner Seat’ in muted greens and browns with watercolor on paper. Imagine him, hunched over his materials, trying to capture this seat, and the weight of its absences. The seat is empty, waiting, still and silent. I am interested in the way the light falls on its surface, creating subtle variations in tone, and how the artist tries to match this. The thinness of the paint allows the paper to breathe, and the wooden structure is depicted with careful attention to detail. The wood grain is evoked with delicate brushstrokes, giving it a tactile quality. I wonder if he was also a carpenter? You can feel the artist’s presence in this humble object, his attempt to understand it, and the connection between hand, eye, and mind, across time.