"Ladder Back" Chair - Called "Jolting Chair" c. 1936

Magnus S. Fossum made this drawing of a chair, called "Jolting Chair", sometime in the 20th century. It's rendered in delicate greens and browns. I like to imagine him sitting before it, pencil in hand, trying to capture not just the look of the object, but its feeling too. It must have been quite meditative to draw every little detail of this chair, a really slow way of looking and feeling. Look at how he's depicted the woven seat, a sea of tiny marks made with what looks like colored pencil! The legs of the chair have an awkward grace, and the rungs look like they are bending slightly under the weight. I wonder if Fossum noticed this when he was making the drawing, or if it just emerged during the making? I see a similar interest in the ordinary in the work of Fairfield Porter, who painted everyday objects in his immediate surrounding. It goes to show how all artists are in an ongoing conversation. Looking begets making, begets looking.