"Japan" Lacquer Dipping Vat 1946

Perkins Harnly created "Japan" Lacquer Dipping Vat with watercolor, graphite, and crayon on paper. It's all about the lines here, a clean, crisp space delineated by precision, yet somehow warm, accessible. You get the feeling that Harnly was interested in the subject in and of itself, making the drawing a record of his encounter with it. The texture seems smooth, flat, like a blueprint or technical drawing, but the subject matter is so humble, the palette so restrained and muted, that it feels welcoming. Look at the way he renders the light in this piece, how it bounces off the silver vat and the metallic barrels. It’s not dramatic, but it gives the piece a sense of realism, of being in a real place. It reminds me a little of Charles Sheeler, who was also interested in industrial subjects, but Harnly's touch is softer, less monumental. Harnly shows us that anything can be beautiful if you look at it in the right way, and painting is about curiosity as much as it is about skill.