A Cup, A Bowl, A Chianti Bottle 1911

Curator: Welcome. We’re standing before Edwin Dickinson's "A Cup, A Bowl, A Chianti Bottle," painted in 1911. Dickinson worked with oil paint on canvas. Editor: Immediately, the subdued palette and seemingly simple arrangement evoke a sense of quiet contemplation for me. The monochrome palette forces you to focus on form and texture. Curator: Yes, and Dickinson's handling of light and shadow is remarkable, even if we don't immediately think about it, in relation to contemporaneous abstraction. Modernism gave him liberty. I’m particularly struck by the everyday quality of these objects—a Chianti bottle isn't traditionally seen as muse-worthy. Editor: Right, it is precisely that departure from traditional, idealized subjects that makes this painting interesting. What does it mean to elevate the mundane? I immediately think of labor, and of those for whom those objects are commonplace. Curator: Dickinson exhibited within the context of the burgeoning modern art scene, so the rejection of academic standards was almost inevitable, and would speak to an era of unprecedented change. In a sense, it’s like an argument against the gilded age itself, a claim about the aesthetics of simplicity. Editor: Absolutely, this work situates itself within a broader interrogation of class, even if subtly. Dickinson seems to be making a statement by choosing objects associated with a more quotidian existence. Is this then, a critique of bourgeois values? Curator: Potentially. We know that Dickinson would have had plenty of exposure to the progressive ideas circulating within art circles at the time. These pieces are rendered not for what they are as commodities but for what they are as subjects for form and tonal variation, it gives agency back to both the creator and the viewer. Editor: I’m left thinking about how this quiet painting, with its limited color range, still resonates with questions around visibility and the narratives we choose to represent, or ignore. Curator: Precisely, and that is something to meditate upon as we depart this room.