Dinner Platter c. 1937

Here is a charming drawing of a plate, called "Dinner Platter", by Joseph Sudek. The blush-rose and pale-gold decoration around the rim is so delicate and intricate, but the artist has also included a tiny technical drawing below, as if to say, "Yes, this can be manufactured." I can almost feel the artist alternating between the intense focus of technical drawing and the more relaxed and imaginative work of pictorial representation, and what it must have been like to move between these different modes of seeing. What was Sudek thinking when he made this? Was he hungry? Did he use this plate for his own dinner? I think about the conversations that artists have with each other, across time, as they respond to what has come before, adding their own voice and vision to the mix. Each artwork inspires new forms of creativity, embracing uncertainty and ambiguity, and allowing for multiple interpretations.