Comb c. 1937

Jessie M. Benge made this drawing of a comb, but when, we don’t know, and that’s ok. Look at all the tiny leaves, rendered in earthy browns and yellows, and how they sprout from the spine of the comb! There’s so much tender detail here. The drawing is very flat, like a pressed flower. You can almost feel the delicate paper and the soft touch of the artist’s hand. But also, it’s not a comb, it’s an image of a comb! That changes things, right? Think of how Morandi painted bottles. He painted them over and over again, trying to figure them out and see them better. I think that Benge’s drawing here is about that kind of looking. It reminds me a bit of the work of Ree Morton, who was also interested in the poetry of everyday objects, and how they can be transformed through art. The beauty is, we can keep looking and see something different each time.