Tilt Top Table c. 1937

Dorothy Handy's "Tilt Top Table" is rendered in watercolor and graphite. The brown of the wood is smooth and deep, and the table seems to float against a plain background. I wonder what it was like for Handy to make this? I think about the way that the act of looking at an object, trying to capture it, almost always turns into something else. She’s not just painting a table; she’s painting a series of decisions. Look at those curved legs. There's such patience in the work, in the way she renders their shape. You have to surrender to the material, whether it’s paint or pencil, to get those subtle gradations of tone that suggest form. Handy makes me think of other artists like Fairfield Porter who painted the everyday, bringing a quiet sense of dignity and a keen eye to the ordinary objects that surround us. Ultimately, painting is a conversation. One artist speaks, and another responds, creating an ongoing dialogue across time.