Chairs in the Service of Art

Chairs. That’s what Brian of Bushboy’s World fame, and host this week of Leanne’s Monochrome Madness wants us to get our cameras out for. And I’ve decided to show Chairs in the Service of Art

My first clutch of photos all come from Spain. A day out in Logroño, la Rioja, yielded some street sculpture featuring chairs and those who sit in them, whether alive or sculpted.

More recently, in Barcelona, I visited of of its newer museums, Museu de l’Art Prohibit – the Musem of Censored Art. It covers political, religious and sexual themes, and is not for the faint-hearted, but I found it fascinating and enlightening.

The first image here was exhibited at the Pamplona Festival in 1972 – a brave thing to do, as Spain was still in the grip of Franco’s dictatorship. This depicts one of Franco’s secret policemen.

The second is by the South Korean artists Kim Eun-Sung & Kim Seo-Kyung, and shows a Girl of Peace. It was exhibited as part of the Aichi Triennale 2019 in Japan, and received threats of attack for being anti-Japanese propaganda. The exhibition was closed but reactions against its censorship forced it to be reopened. This artwork has caused various diplomatic incidents between Japan and South Korea. For its creators, it is an icon of peace. There’s another view of it as my featured photo.

My final Spanish shot is of a chair (and the kitchen stove?) painted on a garage door in a back street in Seville.

Back in the UK, to visit Harewood House near Leeds, and show an image of a chair constructed by the Galvin Brothers specifically for the house’s Yellow Drawing Room – a place to sit, talk, reflect, share, remember. Created at the time of the death of Elizabeth II, this chair was intended as a sober reflection on her reign. Its design, featuring maturing crops as part of the backrest, references the transient and intangible.

Lastly, I’ll take you to Edinburgh, to the National Museum of Scotland. This is where we saw this chair. An astonishing chair. It began its life as a simple willow tree, but was obliged to convolute itself as it grew into the form of a chair by Gavin Munro. Do have a look at his website.

Well, this hasty tour has turned up quite a few different chairs. It’s perhaps the simplest ones that convey the most potent messages.

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Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

51 thoughts on “Chairs in the Service of Art”

  1. This has to be what they call an eclectic mix, Margaret. I don’t see what’s to object to in the Peace chair, but I’m obviously missing some background. The secret police one is spookily good. Is that your Malcolm sitting at the chair with the reader? All quite fascinating xx

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  2. Interesting images. I think the Peace chair might refer to “comfort women”, the young South Korean women who use forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during WW II. Or at least that is probably how the Japanese viewed it as propaganda.

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  5. Thank you; once more a fab collection of a ‚theme‘…..
    I‘m the one to consult for chairs, Margaret. Whenever I saw a solitary chair (still usable and no ‚monster‘) sitting somewhere in a sale, charity shop, car boot sale, I ‘had’ to give it a home. Some precious pieces were amongst them, and some where not ‘cheap’, but I loved them all. The ‘tree’ fauteuil I’ve seen many times; it really is amazing.

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      1. ah, we had a very big house (a Victorian pile) in England and a big one in France. Then I gave many away when we moved to a rental here, one sits in church where I needed a lower chair to play the cello, some are strewn around in the flat, outside on the patio, some I gave away, two I definitely should sell but can‘t because – be still my heart….
        And we were often happy to have so many (I think on last count it was still 32) when we have big do‘s although we now only invite as many ppl as we can sit around the tables.

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      1. Yes, indeed you must! Two of us in the Algarve too! But so many treasures to find. Lisboa, our fav city. Marvao on border, in my book! The Estrela mountains, Douro and border with Galicia. And Guadiana with Mertola and Alcoutim down to Castro Marim. Oh! You’ve got me going!

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  8. My favourite is the willow although several of the other are very striking, not least Franco’s secret policeman. I saw a great example of this in Kosice, Slovakia, birthplace of Sándor Márai On the corner of the street where he lived sits his statue, legs crossed looking pensive, opposite an empty chair as if waiting for a chat.

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    1. That sounds as if it ought to be hi-jacked immediately for the museum in Barcelona! Yes, I’d rather like that willow chair myself, though I get aches and pains thinking how it had to distort itself in the name of art!

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  11. had the same thought as RestlessJo…. Ha. Thought for sure Malcolm was in the photo! Art has long been a lightning rod for dissent and criticism. Great photos and thought provoking ideas. Sometimes you need to push the envelope to be heard.

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    1. Glad to have fooled you both with my first photo! Yes, this particular museum makes the point very well that a powerful piece of art can provoke real reaction – with varying results!

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  13. Excellent art photos, Margaret. I wonder sometimes how comfortable some of those final chair images can be. Perhaps it’s a good idea for when one has guests lingering longer than they should.

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      2. I have just managed to find Ann Colman’s site (nope, never previously heard of her) and she wrote the post so I didn’t have to 😏. Thanks!

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