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Decorative arts

Chair

1 of 6
Type
Decorative arts(Opens in new tab)
Date
1871-1874
Accession number
2005.8
Maker
Frank Furness(Opens in new tab) (American, 1839–1912)
Dimensions
33 1/2 × 22 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (85.1 × 57.2 × 57.2 cm.)
Medium
white oak
Description
Frank Furness was among the major architects who helped give shape to nineteenth-century Philadelphia. If the Gilded Age was noted for its aggressive architecture, Furness's buildings were certainly among the most boisterous and challenging. Born to a father whose oldest friend was Ralph Waldo Emerson, Furness responded deeply and passionately to the magnificence of the American sublime, seeing in Nature the best evidence of the immanent presence of a deity. After studying architectural draughtsmanship in Philadelphia, he moved to New York in 1859 to join the studio of Richard Morris Hunt, which was the first architecture atelier of its kind in the United States. Hunt taught that it was ornamentation that ultimately distinguished "architecture" from mere building - a theory that deeply influenced Furness. His designs evolved into an eclectic mixture of diverse architectural idioms blended into a style that was uniquely his own. In 1867, Furness started his own firm in Philadelphia and by 1871 he had won the commission for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, one of his earliest and most important buildings. This chair was a product of the Pennsylvania Academy commission, which included the creation of the interior as well as the exterior of the building. Designed as a set of twelve, or perhaps sixteen, chairs for the boardroom of the Academy, the chair is one of only four known to have survived a refurbishment of the building in 1968. The architectural solidity and detailed ornamentation of the chair reflect the stylistic program of the building itself. Delicately carved rosettes of four petals line the seat and chair back, and eight petal rosettes around the armrests and the scroll on the back of the chair reveal just enough of the wood beneath their low-relief carving to illuminate contrasting color and grain. This natural ornamentation differs greatly from the rectilinear geometry of the chair, emphasized by the square blocks and engaged columns on the legs, arms and uprights. The combination of the natural and the architectonic, the delicate and the grand, characterizes a style that went on to influence early modernist architects such as Louis Sullivan, who was a student of Furness, and, through Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright. Though Furness considered the interior of his buildings a fundamental facet of his work, little of the furniture that he designed survives. The completion of the Pennsylvania Academy building secured Furness's success for the thirty years that followed, yet his eclectic aesthetic later led to his loss of popularity. The ascension of the staid colonial revival style in the first decade of the twentieth century effectively ended his career, and it was fifty years before Furness's reputation as a principal figure in the history of American architecture was restored. This chair provides an extraordinary opportunity for The Huntington to acquire an iconic work by this important American architect, a seminal influence on the most celebrated architects and designers of the early twentieth century, including Charles and Henry Greene whose work is prominently displayed in the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery.
Credit
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation
Department
American Art
Find out more
View in the Art Museum catalog(Opens in new tab)
Trained in the New York offices of Richard Morris Hunt, one of this country's leading 19th-century architects, Frank Furness returned in 1867 to his native Philadelphia, where he established his own, enormously successful, architectural practice. In 1871 he received the commission to design the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, one of his earliest and most significant buildings.
This chair was one of twelve Furness designed for the institution's boardroom as part of a comprehensive interior plan he developed for the Academy. With its robust geometric form and crisp decorative detailing, the chair echoes the building's interior and reflects Furness's awareness of innovations in contemporary British design.

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