Art Institute of Chicago

Hall Chair

Charles Rohlfs (American, 1853–1936)

Date

c. 1900

Medium

Oak with black stain

Culture

Buffalo

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The son of a New York cabinetmaker, Charles Rohlfs spent his early years working as a designer of cast-iron stoves and furnaces while pursuing an acting career in his spare time. In 1884 he married the novelist Anna Katharine Greene and moved with her to Buffalo, where he took up woodworking after being unable to afford high-quality furniture. What began as a personal venture had become a commercial endeavor by 1898. The first of Rohlfs’s exhibitions to receive national attention was held at Chicago’s Marshall Field and Company department store. Among the many items for sale was a hall chair similar to this example, which calls to mind the dramatically attenuated furniture of the Scottish architect-designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

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