Inkwell c. 1940

Curator: This delicate watercolor illustration, titled "Inkwell," comes to us from Isadore Goldberg, around 1940. What do you make of it? Editor: There's a melancholy stillness. It makes me think of silent offices, longhand memos becoming obsolete…a quiet kind of disappearance. Curator: Yes, and it's interesting how Goldberg chooses this mundane object. But think about it – the inkwell is the vessel of ideas, stories, of decrees even. He draws attention to the very instrument of language. What is being written, who gets to write it, that’s a vital question, don't you think? Editor: Absolutely. There’s something deeply political about who holds the pen, quite literally. I also wonder about the branding on the inkwell – the "C.C. Opulius" label. Who were they? What was their cultural significance? Were they, perhaps, deliberately made obscure even then? Curator: It speaks of the artist's world, perhaps. This act of carefully depicting something so everyday reminds us of the weight inherent in quotidian life. What object are you seeing represented when considering what you mention about its context? Is this about the work? Is it about art, or the function of art and culture to preserve it all, like a fossil in amber? Editor: Possibly. And think about access: the history of writing is the history of power. So many communities throughout history have been deliberately denied literacy as a tool of control. This small inkwell suddenly symbolizes that denial, that struggle for voice. Curator: And we're still dealing with the consequences of those historical power imbalances. Thinking about art as symbolic activism makes you appreciate that objects carry that symbolic charge. Editor: I’m grateful for Goldberg turning my attention back to something like that: this humble "Inkwell". It reminds me of the importance of examining the ordinary and challenging the narratives embedded within it. Curator: For me, the symbolic importance makes this simple inkwell not so simple. It reminds us that behind the physical forms, memories and powers operate together, and the simple artifacts such as inkwells give access to profound shifts of the societies involved.