Wooden Seal c. 1941

Laurette Gauthier made this drawing of a wooden seal, we don’t know when, with a pencil on paper. It's like she wanted to really understand what this thing *is*. She's so committed to describing the object, we can see how the light hits it from above, and how the ink is layered to build up the shadows, like she’s moving from a structural sketch to a tonal study. The level of attention is so intense that it feels kind of hypnotic. I want to know, did she turn the seal over and over in her hand while she was drawing it? There's something about the way she’s represented the carved inscription on the base, that makes me wonder if she saw artmaking as a kind of craft, a way of both making and recording. The act of committing something to paper that might otherwise be lost or forgotten. It’s a humble pursuit, but also an ambitious one. I'm reminded of Agnes Martin, who also found great meaning in simple forms and materials. For both artists, the process is as important as the final product.