Sandwich Glass Cup Plate 1936

Marie Famularo made this drawing of a sandwich glass cup plate with what looks like graphite on paper. It's dated 1936. The drawing is like a love letter to detail, isn't it? You can see the process in the tiny marks that build up to describe the object. The texture is all in the rendering, the way she's built up tone to give us a sense of the glass. It's cool how you can almost feel the light catching on the ridges. Look at the central floral pattern – it's so precise, yet the whole thing has this soft, almost dreamy quality. It's like she's not just drawing a plate, but also capturing a feeling, a memory of light and glass. It puts me in mind of the drawings of Vija Celmins, someone else who's all about looking closely, paying attention to the quiet details of the everyday. It's about embracing the ambiguity, finding the beauty in the process.