Chest c. 1936

Elizabeth Curtis, born in 1855, painted this chest and you can almost smell the wood and varnish. It's brown. Brown and more brown. Brown like earth. Like trees. Imagine Curtis now, brush in hand, carefully capturing every detail of this wooden marvel. The way the light catches those carvings, the weight of history embedded in its frame. She’s probably thinking about all the stories this chest could tell, the secrets it holds within. Curtis must've been interested in the everyday, rendering the beauty of it and how this relates to folk art, where objects are infused with personal and cultural narratives. Her painting is a reminder that art is not confined to grand gestures but lives in the quiet observation of the things around us. Thinking about the history of painting, it is not that different from still life, in its approach to the everyday. Art, after all, is about seeing and feeling, sharing our view with the world and inspiring others to look closer.