America 1786 - 1791

The chair, entitled "America," by Beauvais, is an interesting piece. It invites us to think about the way the world was being imagined in the period that is often called the Enlightenment. Here, the allegorical representation of “America” is a woman, reclined on a turtle, accompanied by a male figure who carries a club. This representation is very telling. What did the artist think he knew about America? What did his patrons expect to see? The way America is depicted reveals more about European perceptions than any reality. The chair isn’t merely a piece of furniture; it's a symbol of power, and of a certain way of seeing. It invites reflection on how we represent each other, and what those representations do.