500
Chairs
Celebrating Traditional & Innovative Designs
Softcover
205 x 205mm
408pp
Published by Lark Books, a division of Sterling Publishing Co. Inc., New York USA Copyright 2004
R.R.P.$39.90
ISBN 978-1-57990-872-0
As reviewed in The Australian Woodworker Issue 142
Cramming the photographs of 500 chairs into a book leaves little room for text, yet what little text there is in this book, is no less interesting than the chairs.
In his foreword, Craig Nutt, the Juror who selected the chairs for inclusion in
the publication, says:
Even
the names of the parts - legs, seat, back, arms - describe the human form.
A
chair not only supports its occupant in work or leisure, but it also ornaments,
conveys status and links the person seated to the history of objects and culture.
Chairs once were reserved for a select few: chieftains, pharaohs, potentates.
The throne was the symbol of their power.
To this day, we refer to the leader
of an organisation or committee as the chairperson, or more recently as simply
the chair.
Having reached a period in which chairs are so ubiquitous that they are sometimes used by artists and philosophers to represent mundane or generic objects a review of the chair certainly appears appropriate.
This is one of the ways in which this book might be interpreted or used. But for woodworkers, its use may be more practical. Just flicking through its pages is inspirational. There are sedate arm chairs that would look at home in the most conservative decor. There are wildly misshapen chairs that merely suggest rather than underscore their function.
All of the chairs are relatively modern, the earliest dating back no more than 20 or so years. The details that accompany the photos include the maker's name, the title (if any) given to the particular chair, its size and the main material from which it was made.
This is a book for the serious student of the chair. It is also a book for those who make or wish to make chairs and seek the guidance of past masters for their future endeavours.
Photos: Colour
Contents
Introduction by Craig Nutt
The Chairs
About the Juror
Contributing Artists