\"Acquisitions 1972\", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 32, no. 1 (1973): p. 20-30.
","citation":"\"Acquisitions 1972\", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 32, no. 1 (1973): p. 20-30.
, p. 30","date":1973,"id":3442,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774431"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"American Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199325,"term":"North American Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1850-1900","dateend":1903,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Tall back chair","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"y1972-25","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Handbook Entry","textentryhtml":"\r\nBy the end of the nineteenth century, a reaction against the often overwrought and mass-produced furniture of the mid-century revival styles (Gothic, Rococo, Renaissance, among others) brought designs of the countervailing Arts and Crafts reform aesthetic to prominence. Among the most innovative of its American practitioners was Charles Rohlfs, whose Tall Back Chair is a masterpiece of design and execution. Carved by Rohlfs as a prototype intended for reproduction and sale but ultimately used personally in his Buffalo, New York, home, the chair’s coiling, tendril-like back and elaborately worked stretcher were inspired by the similarly organic aesthetic of architect Louis Sullivan (1856–1924), whose landmark Guaranty Building was completed in Buffalo in 1895. Sullivan’s chief interior designer for the Guaranty project was George Grant Elmslie (1871–1952), and the interwoven, web-like decorative forms Elmslie produced for that structure — at once geometric and naturalistically flowing — strongly influenced Rohlfs, who simplified and abstracted his own furniture designs, imbuing them with greater clarity and more immediate visual impact. Despite his talent as a furniture maker and critical appreciation of his work, commercial success eluded Rohlfs; his professional career was short-lived, and examples of his work are rare. ","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"A reaction against the industrially manufactured, often shoddy furniture and decorative arts of the mid-nineteenth century ushered the simplified, handmade forms of the Arts and Crafts reform movement into prominence. Among its most innovative practitioners was Charles Rohlfs, whose hand-carved tall back chair with an organic, tendril-like back and elaborately worked stretcher is exceptional for its design and execution. Weaver Kitty Johnson’s coiled basket with a stylized rattlesnake motif, made around the same time, also exhibits expert craftsmanship, and her wares were avidly sought by Anglo-American collectors. While similar baskets traditionally featured abstract designs, Johnson was encouraged by Anglo promoters to incorporate naturalistic motifs to appeal to customers who, in a problematic expression of anti-modernism during a time of increased commodification, preferred to maintain a characterization of Native Americans as bound to nature.\n","remarks":"AMER-STR_23-27_CLA Day 1 Cataloguing Group chat for y1972-25 and 2021-14"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Charles Rohlfs (1853-1936), Buffalo (NY) [1]; by inheritance to his son Roland (1892-1974), Manhasset, Long Island (NY); donated to the Princeton University Art Museum, 1972.\n\n[1] Rohlfs designed the chair for his home. It was carved by George Thiele.","remarks":null}],"datebegin":1893,"sortnumber":"1972 25y","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:27:04.687372","objectid":31949,"dimensions":"137 × 44.5 × 41.3 cm (53 15/16 × 17 1/2 × 16 1/4 in.)","on_view":true}