Duncan Phyfe Chair c. 1936

Walter Jennings made this drawing of a Duncan Phyfe Chair with what looks like colored pencils. I like to imagine Jennings sitting in front of the real chair, trying to capture the light and shadow on its form, and thinking about line, shape, and volume while trying to get it right. There’s something very tender about this drawing, it feels like a kind of careful study. I can imagine the artist thinking about how to make the legs look like they’re holding up the weight of the chair. The hatching lines that describe the shape of the chair have a lovely rhythm to them. I imagine the artist enjoyed the process of drawing each one. And then the color! That very pale turquoise is a beautiful choice against the pale salmon of the legs. All artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. And in the end, like this drawing, painting is a form of embodied expression, always open to interpretation.