Dough Mixer c. 1941

Eva Perry made this drawing of a dough mixer sometime in the 20th century, with graphite and watercolor. It’s got this loving, almost obsessive attention to detail. You can almost feel her tracing the object, and through that, feel her understanding of it. Look how she renders the wood grain with these delicate strokes, each one carefully placed, like she's mapping the terrain of the wood itself. There’s a warmth to the color palette, a sort of earthy tone that feels intimate. It’s like the light you might see in a domestic interior. There’s something so charming about the way Perry handles the form. It’s as though each line is a question, a way of figuring out how things fit together. This drawing reminds me of some of the drawings by Giorgio Morandi. Both artists share a similar interest in the quiet beauty of everyday objects, and in the poetry of simple forms. Art is about this ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, isn't it? It's never really about fixed meanings.