Prop Agenda: From 1995 to around 2004, a magazine known as Proptology was published by a Canadian props professional named Wulf. He published a multi-part series called “A Field Guide to Furniture Styles”, which contained a lot of useful illustrations and information for identifying period Western furniture. One of the parts had a nice little list of chair backs. I have taken this information and these illustrations and arranged them in a nice little grid where they are grouped by similar appearances.
12 comments:
Props always has such an interesting research process. All the information and diagrams that are floating around are extremely fascinating, even if you arent doing props. The diagrams Ive noticed over the past years are great when you compile them. Being able to look at a chair, see the style, not the era, and easily say what you want is great. I'd love to get his guide and see more about different types of furniture, especially the hybrids and how they compare over time.
i love furniture and props and this is a wonderful website for me. i think it is very useful for us to check if our choice in the preliminary props list or say, in the designing part of the show, is right. and not to mention this website itself gives me a lot of ideas. BTW, after the take-home exam of History of architecture and decor, i can easily tell the chair back with a style of ancient Greek and ancient Rome.
When your girlfriend is a props master you get to know pretty quick that a chair isn't just a chair. It doesn't surprise me that someone has cataloged different chair backs and described their chronology, style, and association. (I once looked a book called Windows of Dublin for a set design I did which was 100 pages of pictures of windows in Dublin, Ireland.) The research is there. Should it be? I remember working with a director who went after small details first and had an obnoxious ability to make it seem like the type of chair or teacup on the table was crucial to the world of the play. The wrong chair on stage meant disaster. While this certainly can be true (read the reviews of Point Park's Rope that have showed up this week) where is the line between the wrong chair, one that will do, and the right chair. It asks the props master to take on a role he or she may not want or be able to: Props Designer. Who's responsibility is it to design the props, the scenic designer or the props master? It may not be enough to be enough to read Proptology magazine or the Windows of Dubliin. The most important information is the description, chrnology, and association of the prop. This is what that critical director was interested in and often times I felt she picked the wrong fights over trivial details. A mutual understanding between the designer and the director will take some of the pressure off the props master to put the right chair on stage.
I think resources like this are an extremely useful tool. It also is important that the series was published by a prop master so first hand experience is there. I think when the styles of chairs are clearly described like in this article it gives you another tool to stay true to the time of the piece. Additionally, it simplifies your job in beginning the process to find the pieces or in the making of the pieces. I think furniture is so interesting and is sometimes overlooked as to how it is incorporated into scenic designs.
I find this incredibly useful and practical. For props masters and scenic designers especially.
This diagram is great, the only thing that I personally would find more helpful is adding the information about period in the table so that it more clearly relates to the example. Sure its easy to scroll down and look at the list and scroll back up to again look at the photo, but there is something to be said for all the information being in the same place sometimes.
stuff like this that is easily overlooked by the general public but is all important to a production team. Not only can a chair tell the time period but the social status and the location and can even help set a mood. Chair backs are most important to a prop master and secondarily a set designer because they're the ones who have to deal with how a chair looks and feels on stage and what type of information it conveys to the audience whether they know it nor not.
I agree with Matt. (Stop the presses.) He made many valuable points. Please read his comment. In addition, it depends on the time and financial budget allowed for the production. If you are doing New Works then a chair is a chair but if you doing Elizabeth staring Cate Blanchett and you have 4 months of pre-production and a $30 million budget then you can be a bit more persnickety about which bentwood chair you have in the back ground. The trouble arises when you have a $10 budget and $100 taste. Then just get the chairs for the lobby. Put a bear skin over it if you have to.
It makes sense that this type of detailed research exists, and it really makes me value the research process even more when it comes to designing a show. This would be a great diagram to show a director, who can quickly glance at it and say what type of chair they might like, as opposed to having them or the designer attempt to verbally describe it. A chair usually is not just a chair.
props is probably one of the most useful classes for my dream in becoming Martha stewart someday. I love to look at furniture especially the differences in the ones between decades. the changes that go between them are really quite astounding. Also the detail withen the cair in-between the decades is really important because it relates so specifically to the time period that if it was the wrong chair back, not only would it be out of place in time, but it would through off the whole look of the play.
Why does this magazine no longer exist?? I'd be a lifetime subscriber to such a magazine! I feel that having this must've been such a great way to help those who work in theatre figure out how to work with props and work with time period pieces to create the essence of a show. It's crazy to see just how simple the styling of a chair can pertain to a certain time period.
I honestly think things like this guide are so interesting. I don't have a lot of experience with props but I've always found the job fascinating. The ability to look at a piece of furniture like a lamp, or a couch, or in this case a chair, and to be able to tell the period it is from based on the shape of its back is so interesting. with that said, I also think that guides like this are a great way to learn about history too. There's so much that can be learned from the objects that people kept in their houses centuries ago, and why those specific objects. I personally think that all history classes should have a props unit or something to that effect.
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