The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design

The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design, 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.

“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 is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville in collaboration with the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen Ph.D. Foundation and is toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.