Man's Impression

Furniture, sculpture

February 2024

Dundee, Scotland

The chair is made from Hemlock wood, with an oil-wax finish, cut and assembled to replicate the original Steltman Chair, which was commissioned by jeweller and royal purveyor Steltman for his jewellery store at Noordeinde in The Hague. The original chair was designed as a pair, upholstered in white leather, and intended for couples perusing wedding rings.
This version of the chair is unaltered because Rietveld intended it to be in the style of the movement with full awareness of the philosophy that comes with it. To alter it would be to reinterpret the movement and create a new meaning – which deviates from the point of the chair’s form.
Man’s Impression is draped in blue stiffened canvas is a reference to Piet Mondrian’s paintings and his influence on Rietveld’s work and the movement overall. Going against Mondrian’s theory of primary blue reflecting original nature, the first blue pigment invented, Egyptian Blue, is used on the canvas. The ‘real’ original blue. The canvas is stiffened using PVA glue and water, with the blue pigment blended into the mixture.
Underneath the canvas are laser cut carboard pieces assembled into the form of a ‘man spread’ imprint. The pieces were created using Slicer in Fusion360 and assembled by hand. A PVA glue and water stiffened layer of canvas is placed over the model, covering the hollow grids of the shape. The larger, pigmented layer of canvas is draped over the model impression; fabric frozen in place on the Steltman Chair.
The seat is made to look like a man has sat in the chair, forming the imprint of legs apart in a casual, relaxed manner. This allows room for a man to sit comfortably, however if a woman were to sit in the chair she would be forced to sit in a masculine manner or attempt to sit in a feminine way – where she would then be met with both difficulty and discomfort. Those who identify as neither male nor female would also be made to sit in a masculine way; proving that if you are not a man there would be no room for you in De Stijl.
The overall look of the chair shows contrast between reality and perceived reality. The reality is the organic shape of the drapery, the Egyptian Blue, and the obvious male presence of the seat mould. The perceived reality is the Steltman Chair; the idea that original nature is refined to only horizontal and vertical lines, as theorized originally by Theo Van Doesberg and Piet Mondrian. Shown is the duality of what is real and what is abstract idealisation.
Man’s Impression is a sculpture. It is furniture only with the enforced exclusivity of being masculine. It is a polyvalent piece combining gender stereotypes, colour theory, form, and figures in a non-figurative movement.