Minneapolis Institute of Art

Side chair

United States (New York); Or United States (Pennsylvania) Philadelphia

Date

c. 1830

Medium

Painted wood, rush

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Painted furniture has been popular in America since first settlement. Objects like this painted chair were usually referred to as fancy at the time because of the fanciful patterns and faux finishes used to decorate them. In this fancy chair, wet yellow and green paint was smoke-grained or exposed to the smoke of a candle, resulting in sooty, almost cloudlike shapes. Decorative painters up and down the east coast admired and copied the technique. The decoration of this tour de force chair is enhanced with stenciled and freehand decoration imitating fruit, anthemia, and brass buttons. United States, Americas

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