Chair Figure

Media - 1998.122.4 - SAAM-1998.122.4_1 - 56271
Copied Carl Dern, Chair Figure, 1989, welded steel, 21 143 582 14 in. (549.25.7 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Theodore Cohen in memory of his mother and her sisters: Rose Melmon Cohen, Blanche Melmon, Mary Melmon Greenberg and Fanny Melmon Liberman, 1998.122.4

Artwork Details

Title
Chair Figure
Artist
Date
1989
Dimensions
21 143 582 14 in. (549.25.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Theodore Cohen in memory of his mother and her sisters: Rose Melmon Cohen, Blanche Melmon, Mary Melmon Greenberg and Fanny Melmon Liberman
Mediums
Mediums Description
welded steel
Classifications
Keywords
  • Object — furniture — chair
Object Number
1998.122.4

Artwork Description

Chair Figure is from a series that Carl Dern created in the mid-1980s to explore the human figure as “an archetypal form.” The artist wanted these works to capture the sense of imagination that children enjoy when they draw stick figures. The chair appears to be held aloft, as if on the upraised arms of two acrobats or jugglers. Very quickly, however, the sculpture begins to suggest a complete human figure on stilts, or a tightrope walker, striding through the air.