Discover the art of chairs at the Georgia Museum of Art

Chairs are often viewed as simple functional objects, but in their design is thoughtful craftsmanship. An overview of American chair design, “The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design,” will be coming to the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia from Oct. 17 to Jan. 3, 2021.

This exhibition, featuring more than 40 chairs dating from the early 19th century to present day, showcases chairs as art, highlighting their sculptural beauty. The exhibition “The Seated Child: Early Children’s Chairs from Georgia Collections” will occupy an adjoining gallery and run the same dates. It was organized by the museum’s curator of decorative arts, Dale L. Couch.

Developed by Ben Thompson, curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, “The Art of Seating” provides audiences with a unique opportunity to see chair types that usually reside in private homes, withheld from public display. Thompson chose these chairs from the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation’s collection for their beauty and historical context, showing an array of social, economic, political and cultural influences.

“Chairs can tell us a lot about a time and place when you examine the material the craftspeople had access to and study what was available in their area,” said Annelies Mondi, the museum’s deputy director and in-house curator of the exhibition. “They can also reveal much about the owner of a chair, such as social status and occupation.”

The works of art in “The Art of Seating” relate a compelling story about American history, the evolution of design and incredible artistry and craftsmanship. The chairs in the exhibition feature a variety of materials, including acrylic, fiberglass, leather, metal and wood. They offer a stylistic journey through the past two centuries of furniture, with showstoppers by John Henry Belter, George Hunzinger, the Herter brothers, the Stickley brothers, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Isamu Noguchi, Frank Gehry and others. The exhibition also features contemporary and historic designs by some of the biggest manufacturers such as Knoll, Herman Miller and Steelcase.

While discussing the Rocking Stool from 1958, designed by Isamu Noguchi and manufactured by Knoll Associates, Mondi mentions that “many of these chairs combine ideas of comfort, ergonomics and health. The craftspeople and designers were focused on practical as well as aesthetic concerns and often experimented with new materials and technologies.”

“The Art of Seating” is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, in collaboration with the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C. International Arts & Artists in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit arts service organization dedicated to increasing cross-cultural understanding and exposure to the arts internationally, through exhibitions, programs and services to artists, arts institutions and the public.

“The Seated Child”

“The Seated Child” will present about two dozen children’s chairs as well as a doll’s chair and adult chairs for comparison of scale and style. Not all these chairs were made in Georgia but all are in Georgia collections, and most of them were handmade. Rather than being pristine, they retain their life histories, showing wear from being used as a support while children were learning to walk. Where “The Art of Seating” follows the history of design and manufacturing from the individual craftsperson to industrial production beginning in the mid-19th century to the American Studio Craft Movement of the 20th century and beyond, to the present, “The Seated Child” demonstrates collective traditions and the continuity of style over time. The two exhibitions complement and expand one another.

Related events include:

• A Zoom lecture by Diane DeMell Jacobsen, Ph.D., on Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. Jacobsen is a distinguished scholar, art collector and chair of the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation. Selections from her major collection of American chairs make up the exhibition on view at the museum. Register at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cQVRlXnJRCKH1BN3kmgRjw. This event is a UGA Signature Lecture.
• An outdoor dance performance titled “Stairs, Chairs & Squares,” to take place in the Performing and Visual Arts Complex quad on Oct. 24 and 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. and Nov. 8 at 2:30 p.m. This playful, site-specific dance piece created entirely over Zoom is a collaboration between the Georgia Museum of Art, UGA’s department of dance and Cornfield Dance Company. The (socially distanced) audience will be able to watch from any viewpoint in the quad and is encouraged to move around as the dancers change their locations.
• A Zoom talk by Couch on “The Seated Child” on Nov. 4 at 1 p.m. (register at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIrce2qqj0iE906s3HEXA9ixHcQ4xFeYH70)
• A Family Day To-Go on Nov. 7, with free art kits that can be picked up at the museum Nov. 5 -8 (while supplies last), sponsored by Heyward Allen Motor Co. Inc., Heyward Allen Toyota and the Friends of the Georgia Museum of Art.
• A Toddler Tuesday that can be completed asynchronously and will post to the museum’s website on Nov. 17, with story time and an art activity for little ones.
• And a Gallery Gumshoes program on Dec. 16, with a scavenger hunt that can be completed at home or at the museum (with free timed tickets) and a STEAM Art at Home activity based on the themes and techniques in “The Art of Seating.”

November events are in conjunction with Spotlight on the Arts. All events are free and open to the public, although some require registration.