Glass Celery Dish c. 1937

Beulah Bradleigh painted this glass celery dish on paper, and it feels like a moment captured, a breath held. The watercolor is so light, so washy, that the dish almost dematerializes, becoming a ghost of itself. Look how the blues and purples blend, never quite defining the object but hinting at its form, its translucence. It’s all about the dance of light and color. There's this one little section near the base, where the color pools, a concentrated dose of pigment. It anchors the whole piece, giving it a sense of gravity, of realness. You know, there's something about this piece that reminds me of those early Morandi still lifes – that same quiet contemplation, that same obsession with the everyday object. Except, where Morandi was all about the geometry, Bradleigh is all about the fleeting, ephemeral quality of light. It’s less about the dish itself, and more about the act of seeing, of feeling.