Powder Horn c. 1937

Here's Marius Hansen's watercolor of a Powder Horn. It is a kind of muted, earthy brown, and the metal fittings at the top are rendered in shades of gold, ochre, and bronze. I can almost see Hansen hunched over his work, carefully applying thin washes of color. I wonder what kind of brush he was using? Perhaps a fine, delicate sable brush? There’s a real softness to the object here, a kind of pear-like roundness that gives it this strange kind of tactile quality. You almost want to hold it, feel the weight and texture of it in your hand. It reminds me of the still life paintings of Morandi, where everyday objects are imbued with this quiet, contemplative presence. It’s as though Hansen, through the act of painting, is inviting us to pause, to really see the beauty and complexity in the mundane. And that’s what painting is all about, right? An invitation to see the world anew, to find poetry in the ordinary, and to keep the conversation going, brushstroke by brushstroke.