Highboy c. 1936

Fred Weiss made this drawing of a Highboy, we're not sure when exactly, and I love how he's approached it like a portrait. The careful way he's rendered the wood grain and the shadows, it's like he's trying to capture the essence of this object. What strikes me most is the texture. It's all an illusion, of course, just flat pigment on paper, but he manages to convey the smoothness of the wood, the solidity of the form. Look at how he's used subtle variations in tone to suggest the play of light across the surface. There's a real sensitivity to the material here. And those little details, the delicate carvings, the way the legs taper... it's all so precise, so considered. It reminds me a little of Agnes Martin's work, in the sense of quiet dedication, a commitment to capturing something essential. It makes you think about the act of looking, of really seeing something, and the skill of translating that vision onto paper. It's a beautiful thing.