A Pictorial History of the Empty Chair

‘Empty Chair’ is a book that deals with the subject of absence. Looking at an empty chair makes us wonder who could sit or who might have just been sitting there. Not knowing or being able to see this makes us more curious and adds tension and mystery to a photograph. What purpose will the empty chair serve next? Who will be its new companion? Will we ever know? By delving through archives of private family albums and online resources, Erik Kessels and Karel De Mulder have compiled an entire book of photographs that feature an empty chair with at least one person in the frame: holiday snapshots, garden picnics, relaxing at the beach, or just having a drink.