Please Be Seated ~ Contemporary Studio Seating Furniture
#2 van Muyden Chair, Robert Erickson
by Kari M. Main
Published by Yale University Art Gallery, 1999
The chair was inspired by a trip to Norway that Robert Erickson took with his wife in 1977, during which he studied the locally built chairs of Scandinavia. Erickson was fascinated by the farm-made chairs he saw in people’s front yards wherever they went and documented them in photographs. Noting a plentitude of three-legged chairs among those he recorded, Erickson returned to create the van Muyden Chair as his variation on that form. The prototype for the Art Gallery’s walnut chair was originally designed as a dining-room chair for customers William and Pauly van Muyden of Woodland, California. Erickson has reproduced the van Muyden Chair in numerous multiples since its original conception in the late 1970′s.
For Erickson, achievement is reached through the total craftsman experience–designing and making furniture while working closely with customers. In the design process he prioritizes function, frequently asking his client for body measurements so he may customize the chair. A comfortable chair, according to Erickson, must also be aesthetically satisfying in order to merit distinction, as proficiency in craftsmanship should find expression through innovative design creativity.
For Erickson, artistic success consists in directness in construction. The three-legged form recalls Scandinavian folk furniture, while the modeling of the surfaces evokes modern Scandinavian work. The central solid splat is derived from Chinese Ming chairs, which were straight-sided and plain with a slight curve to the profile. By drawing on these two traditions, the van Muyden Chair demonstrates a self-conscious attention to craftsmanship and a reliance on raw materials to speak for themselves. The result is robust yet refined.
