Bishop Hill: Old Colony Auger c. 1938

Curator: H. Langden Brown's watercolour drawing, "Bishop Hill: Old Colony Auger", dates to around 1938. It presents us with a highly detailed, almost clinical, study of a specific tool. Editor: It's so stark! Isolated against this creamy background, the auger takes on a strangely sculptural quality. It’s as if Brown turned a utilitarian object into an artifact. Curator: Indeed, the artist has emphasized its form and materiality. Given Brown's involvement with the Illinois WPA arts program, it's possible this image documents an object connected to a communal society known for their craft. Editor: Communal, as in, shared labour? The kind that builds barns together? Curator: Exactly! Bishop Hill was founded by Swedish immigrants. They developed a unique visual culture characterized by their cooperative ethos. Images like this would foster communal memory by documenting significant aspects of their work. Editor: Thinking about hands turning that handle...I bet there's a story behind the scratches and slight imperfections in the wood and the iron. Each tells a tiny history of this tool's use. Curator: Precisely. Even the precise rendering contributes; the artwork allows one to reflect on a tool representative of the colony's collective endeavor and self-sufficiency. It highlights the labor involved in constructing a society. Editor: In some ways, the beauty of this piece lies not in high drama, but in an acute observation that raises larger questions around history, craft, and cultural ideals. And in others, I simply love its meditative simplicity. Curator: Agreed. What seems initially straightforward unfolds to reveal a complex interplay of culture, memory, and the aesthetics of functional objects.