Armchair 1935 - 1942

Edward Darby made this drawing of an armchair sometime in the 20th century with what looks like watercolour and graphite on paper. You can see the graphite lines underneath the paint in some areas of the drawing, showing how the artist built up the image step by step. The drawing is really direct and simple, almost childlike, but also really sophisticated. The dark blue almost-black of the upholstery is set against this kind of reddish-brown wooden frame. Darby uses these thin, transparent washes of colour to create a sense of depth and volume. Look at how the legs of the chair curve, and how the colour changes and shifts as they turn in space. In the seat of the chair, you can see these vertical lines suggesting the fabric, but they also seem to be holding the seat upright, like architectural columns. This reminds me of some of Matisse's paintings where he uses colour to create both form and space at the same time, dissolving the boundaries between objects and their surroundings. Art is just an ongoing conversation between artists, about seeing, feeling, and understanding the world around us, and there are no right or wrong answers, just different points of view.