Spinning Wheel 1935 - 1942

Ludmilla Calderon’s ‘Spinning Wheel’ is made using watercolour on paper, it shows a mechanical device for twisting fibres into yarn or thread. It is depicted in shades of brown with much attention to detail. I’m thinking about how Ludmilla approached this subject and the possible reasons for choosing it. She might have been looking at the spinning wheel, really looking, for a long time, almost meditatively, deciding how to capture its various elements in paint. It is a static object but, as the title tells us, its function relates to movement, to the spinning of fibres into yarn. I wonder if she was thinking about its design, or whether it had a more symbolic meaning for her in relation to making and manufacturing. The level of precision in the rendering of the spinning wheel's components is really intriguing and makes me feel there is more to this work than meets the eye. The tonal variations in the brown hues are subtle but effective, providing a sense of three-dimensionality to the object. As painters, we are all in an ongoing conversation, and this work invites us to think about the relationship between the artwork, the object, and the act of seeing.