Bank: Toy Building with Figure 1935 - 1942

Curator: Clementine Fossek created this intriguing watercolour drawing titled "Bank: Toy Building with Figure," sometime between 1935 and 1942. What strikes you upon seeing it? Editor: Well, initially, the somewhat drab colour palette gives off a sense of nostalgia, almost like looking at a faded memory. The blocky forms, repeated and simplified, feel childlike in their construction, perhaps intentionally so. Curator: Indeed. Looking closely, the architectural structure itself invites consideration. The lines are firm, unwavering. Yet there is also a slight imbalance in the way the roofs tilt that defies Euclidean space. Is it deliberately skewed for the perspective? Editor: Perhaps. The drawing seems preoccupied with depictions of Black Americana ephemera as material culture and objects of collecting and trade. And the figure that appears at the front looks out, but also seems contained or stuck inside that green and orange space. I want to know what social purpose they were made to fulfill, who was meant to play with or display them, and why. Curator: The artist plays with dimension masterfully. Look at how the light falls across the depicted structures; the illusion of three-dimensionality is carefully constructed with shading and subtle gradations. Editor: It seems these ‘banks’ functioned simultaneously as objects to play with and financial resources. In the context of Jim Crow America, this is clearly troubling—how did economic, political, and social restrictions make the play both meaningful and harmful? Curator: A close examination highlights a number of compositional choices too. The use of complementary color—green against the accents of terracotta or coral—heightens the visual contrast. These colors give the artwork some warmth. Editor: These visual considerations point us towards uncomfortable places. The colour adds an unexpected touch to what are already politically fraught material objects. I see so many contradictions operating here. Curator: I concur. I wonder how many others were also in quiet disagreement with what these banks and other material objects were designed to encourage and to do? Editor: It provokes many lines of inquiry for certain, offering rich soil for socio-cultural exploration. The impact remains unsettling.