Doll Carriage 1935 - 1942

Walter W. Jennings made this drawing of a Doll Carriage, and what strikes me is the quiet stillness of it. The thin watercolor washes create a delicate surface, more like a memory than a solid object. The pinks and golds create a kind of dreamlike space, and the doll itself looks like it could float away. Look how Jennings renders the details of the carriage—the spokes of the wheels, the fringe on the canopy. Each line feels carefully considered, not overworked, but just enough to suggest form. I love the way that the wheels are drawn so precisely, but the rest of the carriage seems to dissolve into the ground. It’s like he’s saying, “Here is something real, but also something fleeting.” It reminds me a little of Charles Burchfield's watercolors, but Jennings has his own unique way of seeing the world, one that embraces ambiguity and open-endedness. It’s a reminder that art is always a conversation, a way of seeing and thinking that evolves over time.