The Art of Seating: Two Hundred Years of American Design
“The collection, spanning the 200 years between 1810 and 2010—from the aesthetic movement to the arts-and-crafts movement to the more recent modern movement—tells the story of who we are as Americans, a young country brimming with inventiveness, energy and dreams of endless possibility.”
– Cabeth Cornelius, Jacksonville Luxury Living
The Art of Seating, organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville and the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation, presents a survey of exceptional American chair design from the early 19th century to the present day. The chair is experienced not only as a functional item, but as sculptural in view—the chair as art.
Each of the approximately 40 chairs in the exhibition are chosen for their beauty and historical context with important social, economic, political and cultural influences. Selections from The Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation are joined by contemporary designs offering a stylistic journey in furniture with show-stoppers by John Henry Belter, George Hunzinger, Herter Brothers, Stickley Brothers, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles & Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, and Frank Gehry among others.
Please contact TravelingExhibitions@ArtsandArtists.org for more information.
Number of Works: More than 40 chairs with accompanying pedestals
Organized by: The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville in collaboration with the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation
Curator: Ben Thompson, Curator at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville
Booking Period: 12 weeks
Tour: January 2011 – June 2021
Publication: Exhibition brochure
Contact: TravelingExhibitions@ArtsandArtists.org
Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL
January 21, 2011 – April 10, 2011
The Figge Museum of Art, Davenport, IA
June 11, 2011 – September 4, 2011
The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
September 22, 2011 – January 15, 2012
Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA
February 5, 2012 – April 8, 2012
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC
April 27, 2012 – August 26, 2012
Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD
November 24, 2012 – February 10, 2013
Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA
February 28, 2013 – May 19, 2013
Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA
June 15, 2013 – October 6, 2013
Fullerton Museum Center, Fullerton, CA
October 25, 2013 – December 22, 2013
Hilliard University Art Museum, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA
January 17, 2014 – May 9, 2014
Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA
May 31, 2014 – July 27, 2014
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC
August 23, 2014 – December 31, 2014
The Elliot Museum, Stuart, FL
February 6, 2015 – May 31, 2015
Alyce de Roulet Williamson Art Gallery, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
June 20, 2015 to August 15, 2015
The Western Gallery of Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
September 28, 2015 – November 21, 2015
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
December 12, 2015 – January 24, 2016
Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, VA
February 13, 2016 – April 10, 2016
Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, WI
June 4, 2016 – August 28, 2016
Albany Institute of History and Art, NY
October 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016
Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
March 19, 2017 – June 18, 2017
Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AR
September 29, 2017 – December 31, 2017
Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago, IL
February 10, 2018 – August 12, 2018
Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL
December 7, 2018 – January 20, 2019
Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA
February 9, 2019 – May 5, 2019
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE
June 2, 2019 – September 8, 2019
J. Wayne Stark Galleries, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
July 1, 2020 – September 27, 2020
Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA
October 17, 2020 – January 3, 2021
Louisiana State University Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, LA
March 11, 2021 – June 6, 2021
Discover The Art Of Chairs At The Georgia Museum Of Art
Patch, October 12, 2020
Texas A&M University Art Galleries To Reopen July 1 With New Exhibits
Texas A&M Today, by Molly Painter, June 24, 2020
Sitting pretty ... 'The Art of Seating' features 200 years of Americans' unique chairs
The Morning Call, by Steve Siegal, February 21, 2019
New Exhibit Gives American Chair Design Its Due Respect
Chicago Magazine, by Christian Belanger, February 12, 2018
The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design
The New York History Blog, September 23, 2016
Seat of Learning
Tradional Home, by Judith H. Dobrzynski, April 2013
Take a Seat / Dolf James’ MOCA Installation: Re-examine the Common Chair
EU Jacksonville, by Jack Diablo, January 2011
See the Art of Seating at MOCA exhibit
The Florida Times-Union, by Charlie Patton, January 22, 2011
The Art of Seating
Jacksonville Luxury Living, by Cabeth Cornelius, January 2011