Pewter Covered Water Pitcher c. 1936

This is Joseph Stonefield’s pencil drawing of a pewter pitcher. Look closely at the pressure of the pencil, how he bears down on the metal, bringing the pitcher into being. I imagine Stonefield choosing this object, maybe from his kitchen, thinking he would capture the domestic object in all its detail. I can sense the artist’s hand moving across the paper, trying to describe the curves and the subtle gradations of light and shadow. I wonder, did he make the little drawing in the corner first, maybe as a rough sketch of what was to come? He was figuring something out, a problem to solve. This pitcher feels almost alive, with its handle like an arm and the spout like a beak. The process of drawing seems to animate it further, turning a functional object into something more. It makes me wonder, what else was on his table, and who was he speaking to through this work?