Lancet and Case c. 1938

Regina Henderer made this small watercolor of a lancet and case, with delicate washes of color. I imagine her, maybe a bit like a surgeon, carefully building up these flat shapes, coaxing them into a kind of three-dimensional form. It’s like she’s saying, "Hey, look at this ordinary thing. Isn't it amazing?" And actually, it is! The way she's rendered the worn leather of the box with such care. I bet she liked how the light caught the metal. I wonder if she was thinking about mortality when she painted this? Or maybe she was just drawn to the lancet’s form, that hook-like shape, and its relationship to the dark, velvety interior of the box. It's a simple scene, but it invites you to look closely, like you're peering into a tiny world.