Buttons c. 1937

Here are a bunch of buttons rendered in watercolor by Isidore Steinberg. Each one is a tiny world, and it makes me wonder about Steinberg's hand, moving with such precision to capture each small form. I can imagine them meticulously mixing each hue, the brush dancing across the page with intent. What does this careful, repetitive gesture of painting mean? Is he interested in the buttons themselves or in the process of painting? What does he see when he looks at them? And look at these colors! Purples, golds, blues, and reds, each button framed by a halo of light. You can imagine the artist thinking of a Mondrian or a Morandi – he is in dialogue with painting and painterly abstraction. Isn't it funny how artists carry on these silent conversations across time, riffing on each other's ideas? Each mark becomes a word, each painting a sentence in an ongoing story.