"Golden Banana" Valet Chair

Alphonse Mattia (American, 1947–2023) · Westport · 1988

This chair is part of a group of similar forms inspired by valets of the Danish designer Hans Wegner. In each valet, Alphonse Mattia preserved the basic form, including hanging supports for clothes and low seats for tying shoes, yet he used paint and carving to give each piece a distinct and comical identity. The artist makes a humorous statement about exoticism in this chair by placing tropical fruit above a tiger-skin seat.

Medium

Walnut, birch, soft maple, and plywood

Dimensions

75.4 x 18.2 x 17.6 in. (191.5 x 46.3 x 44.8 cm)

Accession

1988.64.1

Credit line

Please Be Seated Collection, funded by Julian H. Fisher, B.A. 1969, in memory of Wilbur J. Fisher, B.A. 1926, and Janet H. Fisher