Cream Pitcher c. 1940

Hugh Ryan made this Cream Pitcher in watercolour, a medium that invites improvisation. It’s like he’s feeling his way around the form, not trying to nail it exactly, but letting it emerge through the process. There’s a wonderful opacity to the brown washes. It almost looks like clay itself. See how the light glances off the curves, with touches of red and green peeking through? It gives the pitcher a real sense of weight and presence. The handle, a simple loop, seems almost tentative, as if Ryan is questioning the very act of holding. I’m drawn to the way the lip of the pitcher is rendered – that slight dip, suggesting a controlled pour. Thinking about the earlier still lifes of Cezanne, you get a similar sense of intimacy with everyday objects. Ultimately, what Ryan's Cream Pitcher reminds us is that art is not just about representation, but about the messy, beautiful act of seeing.