Two Cradles with Dolls 1935 - 1942

John Fisk, who lived a long life, well into his late 90s, painted these two doll cradles at some point, though we don’t know exactly when. There’s such tenderness in the painting, I can almost feel the artist gently dabbing the paper with his brush. I wonder if he was thinking about his childhood or perhaps of a child in his life when he made this? The paint is applied in such thin washes, it’s as though he was trying to capture a memory, something so delicate that any heavy application would make it disappear. See how he’s rendered the curves of the rocking base of the cradles in thin red and yellow stripes? I can imagine him pausing, carefully choosing each color, each stroke imbued with a wish for safety and comfort. It reminds me of other artists' exploration of childhood innocence and domestic life, but here it is distilled into its purest form. This is an artist painting from memory and from the heart.