Weather Vane - Eagle c. 1937

Milton Grubstein made this Weather Vane – Eagle with graphite on paper, but when? Who knows? Grubstein’s mark-making has the feel of a mechanical drawing, precise and functional, which feels appropriate for a technical object. Looking closer at the eagle itself, its surface is covered in these funny little pock marks, like the surface of the moon. Each one is a tiny dark circle, a perfect little orb, they’re so strange against the smooth graphite of the bird. What I like about these details is that they bring a sort of handmade quality to the image, and even a sense of humor. These marks could suggest the surface of the object, but I read them as traces of the artist’s hand, or even the way the artist is seeing! In a way, the eagle feels like a stand in for the artist; always sensitive to the changing conditions, and always pointing the way. Like Alfred Jenson, Grubstein seems to be making an art that looks towards the future, by staying in touch with the past.