Ink Bottle 1940

Marie Lutrell’s ‘Ink Bottle’ seems to have been made with watercolor on paper. It’s a simple, lovely, homely kind of image. I imagine Lutrell hunched over her table, carefully building up the form of this vessel with diagonal strokes. You can almost feel the brush in her hand, moving with deliberate care, each stroke adding depth and volume to the bottle. There’s a real focus on the object itself – its shape, its texture, its presence. The slightly wonky rendering of the bottle with its pronounced crack gives it real personality, you know? It reminds me of Morandi's still lifes, and his endless quest to find the sublime in the everyday. It's like Lutrell is saying, ‘Look, even an ink bottle can be beautiful if you really pay attention.’ And you know what? She’s right. Artists keep reminding us to pay attention to the world, and each other!