Button 1935 - 1942

Editor: Here we have John H. Tercuzzi's "Button," made between 1935 and 1942, a watercolor and pencil drawing. There is something austere in the presentation of such a mundane object. How do you interpret this work? Curator: I see more than austerity here. Consider the socio-economic context: these were depression era-years in the US. Why focus on a button, an object used for clothes? Tercuzzi asks us to contemplate dress as a fundamental aspect of daily life, and how even a humble item might express identity or belonging, even survive wear and tear. It's about class, perhaps gender depending on what garment it was used on, and how we present ourselves in a world struggling with poverty. How does its rendering in watercolor impact your understanding of this artwork? Editor: That's insightful, I was so caught up in the stillness I missed it. Watercolor does make it feel fragile, temporal… like a memory? Curator: Exactly. The use of watercolor renders the image in a very subjective way. It transforms a utilitarian object into something delicate, perhaps imbued with personal history and even hinting at how such small artifacts tell larger stories of individuals who lived in the period. Do you see that faint “H” monogram on one of them? Editor: Yes! I missed that at first, that makes the button seem even more specific, almost intimate. Curator: Precisely. And what are buttons *for*? Holding things together. This modest artwork gestures to much larger themes—identity, survival, and the enduring significance of seemingly insignificant objects. Editor: This changed my understanding. I will now look more attentively at the art in everyday objects.