Door Handle c. 1941

This drawing of a door handle was made by Jacob Lipkin. Look at the shapes that hold the handle in place; kind of heart-like, but also pointy and bird-like. I imagine Lipkin focusing intensely, trying to get every detail just right, almost as if the door handle has its own personality. The smudgy textures and the way the graphite catches the light, they make it feel like the handle is emerging from the paper, real and graspable. There’s something about the precision and care in this drawing that reminds me of the work of other artists who find beauty in the everyday – a bit like Giorgio Morandi and his bottles. It all makes you think about how much care goes into making a functional object. How much it matters that someone did this; took the time to really look and draw, to make something ordinary, extraordinary.