A Stool, A Chair, and a Map

George Deem was born in Indiana, trained at the Art Institute of Chicago, and lived for over forty years in New York City. He was fascinated with the methods and compositions of the Old Masters, especially Jan Vermeer, as clearly seen in this painting. The objects depicted here are taken from Vermeer’s famous The Artist in His Studio (The Art of Painting) from 1666–1667. But Deem has eliminated Vermeer’s figures—the artist and his model—in order to concentrate on the basic elements of art-making: form, composition, atmosphere, and light.