Candle Mold c. 1940

Roger Deats made this watercolor painting of a candle mold sometime in the 20th century. The image is very simple. It shows an object that would have once been commonplace, but by the time Deats was painting, was becoming obsolete. Candles were once a necessity. The poor relied on the low light candles provided. But from the 19th century onward, they were increasingly displaced by gas and electric lighting. In portraying it in this way, what is being said about American society? Is this a romantic image? Or is it more a statement about social change? We can research the subject of candle making, looking into sources such as census records, advertising pamphlets, and manuals. We can learn something about the changing place of manual labor and the way that it was represented. The history of art teaches us to consider how and why the objects in our world are represented.