The Comfort of Moses and the Ten Commandments198857 × 33 × 32 1/2"Steel and wood with hemp and enamelMuseum purchase made possible with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Metropolitan Life Foundation1990.3.50152275104Richard DialSculpture© 2016 Richard Dial / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkBessemerBessemerUnited StatesAlabamaThree Dimensional WorksBessemer
Richard Dial acquired his metalworking skills as a machinist at the Pullman Standard Company in Bessemer, Alabama, alongside his father, Thornton Dial Sr., who is now celebrated for his powerful art. In 1984, and in the wake of the failure of Pullman Standard and other industries in the area, he founded Dial Metal Patterns with his father and brother. It was a small business that made wrought iron patio furniture. Dial was able to hire skilled labor, and the business developed into a cottage industry producing functional patio furniture under the label "Shade Tree Comfort." After 1987, and for only a few years, Dial allowed himself to explore his own conceptual art through a series of around twenty anthropomorphic chairs that play upon conflicting notions of comfort and discomfort inspired by the name of his utilitarian line. The Comfort of Moses and the Ten Commandments is one in a series that specifically considers the implications of this biblical patriarch, who holds a special place as the visionary who led his people from slavery. The structure of the chair itself is no different from the typical furniture produced by the company at the time, using flat straps of metal to form the seat and back and curving the metal to terminate in hands and feet. But these limbs are actualized, wearing rope sandals and straining to hold the weight of the tablets with the word of God. Comfort is not possible in this chair, which emphasizes the discomfort and difficulty of obeying the commandments. The Decalogue appears as inscrutable markings in red on separate wood panels, "signs and wonders" that can only be interpreted by someone with special sight. Moses himself has the face of an elder—hopeful, loving, querying—his hoary eyebrows and beard made of humble and approachable materials, including a mop.
In 1992, Dial had a revelation regarding his subconscious affinity for chairs and hyperawareness of the tension between comfort and discomfort. He realized that he had strived as a youngster to provide such comfort and function for his sister, Patricia, a victim of severe cerebral palsy. His attempts to fashion chairs to help her sit up were not successful, but they left an impression of the ways in which the simplest amenities of life have far-reaching consequences.
Stacy C. Hollander, "The Comfort of Moses and The Ten Commandments, 1988" exhibition copy for American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2020.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgSCULPTUREFurniture19881988 1990 3 5
Richard Dial acquired his metalworking skills as a machinist at the Pullman Standard Company in Bessemer, Alabama, alongside his father, Thornton Dial Sr., who is now celebrated for his powerful art. In 1984, and in the wake of the failure of Pullman Standard and other industries in the area, he founded Dial Metal Patterns with his father and brother. It was a small business that made wrought iron patio furniture. Dial was able to hire skilled labor, and the business developed into a cottage industry producing functional patio furniture under the label "Shade Tree Comfort." After 1987, and for only a few years, Dial allowed himself to explore his own conceptual art through a series of around twenty anthropomorphic chairs that play upon conflicting notions of comfort and discomfort inspired by the name of his utilitarian line. The Comfort of Moses and the Ten Commandments is one in a series that specifically considers the implications of this biblical patriarch, who holds a special place as the visionary who led his people from slavery. The structure of the chair itself is no different from the typical furniture produced by the company at the time, using flat straps of metal to form the seat and back and curving the metal to terminate in hands and feet. But these limbs are actualized, wearing rope sandals and straining to hold the weight of the tablets with the word of God. Comfort is not possible in this chair, which emphasizes the discomfort and difficulty of obeying the commandments. The Decalogue appears as inscrutable markings in red on separate wood panels, "signs and wonders" that can only be interpreted by someone with special sight. Moses himself has the face of an elder—hopeful, loving, querying—his hoary eyebrows and beard made of humble and approachable materials, including a mop.
In 1992, Dial had a revelation regarding his subconscious affinity for chairs and hyperawareness of the tension between comfort and discomfort. He realized that he had strived as a youngster to provide such comfort and function for his sister, Patricia, a victim of severe cerebral palsy. His attempts to fashion chairs to help her sit up were not successful, but they left an impression of the ways in which the simplest amenities of life have far-reaching consequences.
Stacy C. Hollander, "The Comfort of Moses and The Ten Commandments, 1988" exhibition copy for American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2020.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.orgSCULPTUREFurniture