Silver Tankard c. 1936

Charlotte Winter’s Silver Tankard is a drawing that she made using pencil on paper. I love how Winter is playing with light and shadow. The piece has a very subtle tonal range overall, from pale greys to deeper shadows that give the tankard its rounded form. Imagine the artist, carefully building up these layers of graphite, one stroke at a time, making the metallic surface come alive. It's almost like Winter is trying to touch the object through her gaze, feeling its weight and coolness as she draws. And then there are the details. The inscription, the handle, and the spout. They’re all so carefully rendered. It reminds me of the work of other realist painters, like Gerhard Richter, who blur the boundaries between representation and abstraction. It really speaks to the power of drawing as a way of seeing and understanding the world around us. Artists inspire each other to experiment, to take risks, and to find new ways of expressing themselves.