Shaker Sugar Jar 1941

Here's Charles Goodwin's Shaker Sugar Jar, painted on paper sometime in the 20th Century. I imagine Goodwin must have looked long and hard at this jar, really trying to figure it out in watercolor. It’s like he's thinking, how do I make a jar? How do I create this vessel, this container? I love the way the brown lid sits on the glass. It's solid, anchoring the transparent vessel. It’s also quite funny. I'm sure Goodwin was also thinking about other artists, like Giorgio Morandi and his still life paintings of bottles. I can imagine him carefully mixing each color, trying to capture the subtle shifts in tone and shadow. And that soft, washy texture of the paint – it's so delicate. You know, painting is really about seeing and responding, it’s about the conversation between the artist and the world. It's all about influence and exchange.