Toy Bank: Donkey and Cart c. 1941

Isidore Danziger made this Toy Bank: Donkey and Cart, and it’s rendered in watercolor and graphite. Looking at the brushwork and color choices, it's evident that the artist wasn't after photorealism. Instead, there's a real joy in the process, a willingness to let the materials do their thing. The colors are bright and cheerful. The texture is flat but enlivened with delicate shading and highlighting. The artist doesn’t try to hide the hand – you can see the individual strokes, which gives it a lively, playful quality. Check out the donkey’s harness, how the graphite pencil lines are placed with care to define the object. The way Danziger simplified the forms reminds me a bit of some folk art traditions, where the focus is more on capturing the essence of a thing rather than its exact appearance. The piece shares an affinity with Joseph Yoakum's landscape drawings. It invites us to appreciate the unique vision of the artist.