Wine Glass c. 1936

Agnes Karlin made this drawing of a wine glass with what seems to be colored pencil on paper. The color is really working for me here, it’s like a mossy green that feels both fresh and antique. Karlin’s application of the medium is so skillful, there are these delicate pencil lines that describe the form of the glass and create the shadows, but then there are also these areas where the pencil is more densely packed, building up the tones. I love the way the pencil marks build up the form of the glass, they almost feel like they're modeling the object out of pure color. You can see this particularly in the stem and the base, where the pencil strokes create this almost sculptural effect. It reminds me a bit of Morandi, who also had a knack for making humble objects into something really special through the simple act of looking and drawing. Like a really good poem!