Twee stoelen 1895 - 1935

Léon Laroche made this image of two chairs, we don’t know when, using printmaking techniques. It looks like a fashion plate or an illustration of the kind you might find in a furniture catalogue. The color palette is pastel, really light, like watercolors, and the lines are sharp and clear. The neatness of the rendering is part of the point; there is something very studied and self-conscious about the precise detail, but the chairs themselves are so over the top. It's like, what kind of butt sits in those things? I can almost feel the texture of the patterned upholstery, the way the gilded wooden frames would feel against my skin. I'm drawn to the chair on the right, with the tiny roses in a diamond pattern on the seat and back, and the delicate touch of teal on its frame. It's an image about comfort, but it’s also kind of absurd. Laroche is clearly riffing on the visual style of the French Rococo, but I wonder if an artist like Édouard Vuillard – another fan of domestic interiors – ever saw this and had a little chuckle?