Grotesque Jug c. 1936

Frank Fumagalli made this watercolor, the Grotesque Jug, sometime in the 20th century. The olive green jug is brought to life with a crude face, like one of those ancient Greek masks they used in theatre. I can imagine Fumagalli bending over his desk, carefully applying the watercolor in thin layers. The mouth is wide open, a cavernous, dark interior glimpsed within, like Francis Bacon’s screaming popes. The face of the jug has a nightmarish quality – the stuff of dreams, but also of political cartoons. Think about the history of ceramics, and how for centuries, the jug has been a humble, utilitarian object. Fumagalli reminds me of the old masters, who saw the potential for expression in the most mundane of subjects. It’s a reminder that art can be found in the everyday, and that even a simple jug can be a vessel for complex ideas and emotions.