by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
For any given person at any given time, standing, lying down or sitting are the three most common postures.
The new feature exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Laura Street at Hemming Plaza is a study of how design and technology have affected how people perform the latter.
“The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design” opens to the public today and will be on view in the third-floor gallery through April 3.
More than 40 chairs by American designers and architects are included in the exhibit. Most are from Diane DeMell Jacobsen’s collection and the exhibition is the first time two centuries of American chair designs have been shown to the public.
“I have always been fascinated by chairs. They are works of art and little treasures and they tell so much about the lives we lead,” said Jacobsen.
Her collection of seating art began with an Egyptian revival chair she saw in the catalog of an artist who was designing a pedestal for a pair of sculptures from Jacobsen’s extensive collection of American art. That first acquisition was followed by many more.
“That chair really captured my heart and it led to this wonderful collection. Once you have two of anything, you’re a collector. When you have three, you’re really hooked,” said Jacobsen.
The exhibition traces the history of American design from 1810 to the present. Along the way, changes in aesthetic preferences and technology as well as social and cultural trends are presented through the chair, which is considered by some to be “functional sculpture.”
All of the chairs in the exhibition were designed and intended to be used. Several of the designs are still manufactured and sold.
Materials used in the chairs range from hardwood and metal to steer horns and corrugated paper. All of the chairs have been accurately restored, in some cases after finding a single thread of the original upholstery.
“The more I studied and learned, the more I appreciated the artistry,” said Jacobsen.
The exhibition also represents two other “firsts” for MOCA. It’s the first time the museum has presented an exhibition based on design and it’s the first traveling exhibit that has originated at the museum, said Curator Ben Thompson.
When “The Art of Seating” closes in April, it will be carefully packed and then shipped to the first of several other museums that will exhibit the collection.
With the presentation of the chairs on custom-built pedestals and the chronological layout of the exhibit, there was “more thought given to this exhibition than any that has ever been presented at MOCA,” said Thompson.
In addition to the feature exhibit, the museum and the University of North Florida have scheduled several complementary educational and celebratory offerings, including an American design symposium at UNF Feb. 19, MOCA’s annual gala March 12 and a series of public lectures and films.
For more information about “The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design” and its related activities, visit www.mocajacksonville.org or call 366-6911.
356-2466