Chair
| Artist | Jirí Kolár (Czech, 1914–2002) |
|---|---|
| Title | Chair |
| Date | 1964 |
| Medium | Collage |
| Dimensions | Overall: 35 x 16 1/2 x 16 1/2 in. (88.9 x 41.9 x 41.9 cm) |
| Credit Line | Gift of Mr and Mrs Harry C. Nail, Jr., Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 76.140 |
| This artwork is currently off display. You may be able to see this artwork by filling out an art viewing room request. | |
A collage of a chair covered in a browned paper with black words in an Eastern European language, most likely Czech.
Czech poet, artist, and political dissident Jiří Kolář made collage the focus of his work, often incorporating it into sculpture or applying it to found objects, as in this work. In the 1950s, when Kolář’s poetry came under the scrutiny of government censors in communist Czechoslovakia, he found collage to be a safer outlet for his passion for words. Chair, which is collaged with newspaper clippings, is an example of a collage technique that Kolář termed “chiasmage,” in which he affixed small scraps of paper to a three-dimensional object in rhythmic patterns. Through this process of transformation, language becomes secondary to pattern and aesthetics.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Chair | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=76.140