Knee Pants c. 1936

These ‘Knee Pants’ by Frederick Jackson are made using pencil and watercolor. There's a light, airy quality to the watercolor washes, they create a sense of depth, like looking through clouded glass. And these fine pencil lines describe the utilitarian structure of the garment. The rendering is both precise and dreamlike. I love the way the artist has chosen to represent these pants. The front and back views, so carefully outlined, feel like a blueprint for something that could be, or could have been. It reminds me of fashion sketches. These ghostly blue pants become more than just an object, more like an idea. There’s something of an obvious debt to Hockney in the palette. While the simplicity of the medium, and the subject, reminds me of Marsden Hartley’s paintings of everyday objects, elevated by simple representation. It’s as if Jackson wants us to see the beauty in the mundane.