Rectangular Table c. 1939

Ruth Bialostosky made this drawing of a Rectangular Table at some point in her long life, probably with colored pencils. What strikes me most is the almost obsessive attention to detail, especially in rendering the wood grain. You can see this not only on the table's surface, but echoed in the curvy legs. There's a beautiful tension between the object depicted and the labor of its making. The repetition and variation in color create a visual buzz, a real tactile sense of density and material. It's like Bialostosky is saying, “Look, this isn’t just a table. It's a record of time and observation.” This reminds me of the obsessive realism of some of the self-taught artists like Bill Traylor, where the act of observation becomes a form of meditation. Bialostosky’s table is a kind of portrait, not just of an object, but of a way of seeing.