Pewter Inkstand c. 1940

Editor: This is Violet Hartenstein’s "Pewter Inkstand," made around 1940, using watercolor and drawing. The inkstand itself seems so simple, utilitarian. What can we draw out of something so ordinary? Curator: Precisely! Consider the labor implied. The Pewter Inkstand wouldn't exist without the extraction of raw materials, the labor of shaping pewter. Do you notice the texture that's rendered, the slight variations in tone? Editor: I do see it. It feels almost... weathered. I guess I had not thought about the work that went into something like that before. Curator: Think of the function. What kind of labor relies on the inkstand itself? Writing, record-keeping. How does this object facilitate certain kinds of work while obscuring the processes that create it? Editor: It’s easy to forget that something so small could represent this broader system of production and, and use! This really challenges me to look closer and see things I normally wouldn't. Thank you. Curator: It goes to show that even the most seemingly mundane object can illuminate vast social and economic realities when we examine its materiality.