Memorial Ring c. 1937

Michael Fenga drew ‘Memorial Ring’ with graphite and watercolour on paper. I can imagine Fenga poised over the paper, thinking about the ring. What kind of a person would wear it? What are they trying to remember? I see a face at the centre of the ring, peering back at me, framed by tessellated blue shapes. The band of the ring is gold. It’s a striking image that draws the eye. Then I notice two other pencil drawings of the ring—or maybe they are alternative rings—floating around it on the page. I think of him in his studio, pondering how the preciousness of jewelry marks important occasions in our lives. Maybe he was thinking of his own loved ones as he considered these rings. What an evocative and endearing drawing!