Chippendale Mahogany Side Chair 1936

This is Arthur Johnson’s Chippendale Mahogany Side Chair, made in 1936, likely with watercolour on paper. The palette is quite restrained, a study in reds and browns, carefully modulated to give form to the rather ornate chair. You can really see Johnson thinking through the process of how to translate the chair's three-dimensional form on a flat surface. There’s something about the materiality of the watercolour here that really captures my attention. It’s so controlled and precise, with thin washes and delicate lines, particularly in the back of the chair. The texture of the paper seems to shine through, giving a gentle, matte finish to the image. If you look closely at the legs, you can see how Johnson has carefully layered the colours to give them depth and solidity. This piece feels like a study – it reminds me a bit of the obsessive attention to detail in the work of someone like Agnes Martin. You can imagine both artists approaching their work as a form of meditation, an ongoing conversation between hand, eye, and mind.