Child's Hobby Horse c. 1937

Theodore Pfitzer made this watercolor of a child's hobby horse, using delicate marks and muted colors. You can almost see him there, hunched over his table, carefully rendering the details of this beloved toy. I wonder what Pfitzer was thinking as he painted each circle that makes up the horse’s body, a process of repetition, maybe even meditation. There's a curious tension between the flat decorative pattern on the horse and the more realistic depiction of the saddle. The red frame beneath is a bold counterpoint to the gentle curves of the horse itself. The toy and the painting seem to be about play, which is to say, making-do, about the life of humble materials, and transformation. Like a lot of the work of, say, outsider artists, it makes you realize that art isn't just some precious thing in a museum, it can be found anywhere, in anything. It’s a reminder that creativity is all around us, and that everyday objects can hold beauty and meaning.