Infant's Dress Yoke and Mull Cup 1936

Ella Josephine Sterling made this study of an Infant's Dress Yoke and Mull Cup in 1936, using pencil on paper. I love the way she approached the page, not as a technical drawing so much as a field of decorative invention. Look at the way she uses the pencil: the fine lines, the shading, the delicate touch. You can almost feel the softness of the fabric she’s depicting. The precision in rendering each stitch and fold, it's almost obsessive, compulsive. It reminds me of Agnes Martin's grids, how a seemingly simple structure can contain so much subtle variation and emotion. The way she isolates these elements—a yoke, a cup, a fragment of lace—it's like she's dissecting the very idea of adornment. And that little splash of red in the corner, is it blood? Or a rogue dab of paint? It’s like a tiny rebellion against the pristine order of the drawing. It reminds me of a Cy Twombly, how a seemingly random gesture can disrupt and energize the whole composition. What a wonderful piece!