Silver Bowl c. 1937

This silvery bowl was drawn by Michael Fenga, sometime between 1855 and 1995. Look at the gentle gradients he coaxes from the pencil, it’s all about process, slowly building up tone to create a sense of volume and reflective surface. The texture of the paper itself seems to be part of the drawing, almost like the bowl is emerging from a hazy fog. The metal is suggested through subtle variations, lighter and darker tones describing how light might play across its surface. Notice the small bowl in the lower left corner – is this a kind of exercise, a preliminary sketch, or just a playful addition? For me this drawing almost has something of the quiet, contemplative quality of a Morandi still life. There is an intimacy here, a sense of the artist spending time with an everyday object, turning it into something poetic.