Buttons c. 1937

Isidore Steinberg made this study of buttons on what looks like paper. There's something very tender in Steinberg’s approach to these small, intimate objects. The colour palette is quite muted. The umber background creates a subtle backdrop for the small detailed studies. There’s a circular rhythm as your eye bounces from one button to the next. They each contain these beautiful little worlds, like tiny landscapes or emblems. Look at the button in the middle, the one with the dark ground. From a distance, the figures are a blur, but up close you can make out their forms. I love how this one has broken the surface and becomes almost like a dark pool within the composition. This piece reminds me of the work of Joseph Cornell, the way he elevated the everyday object into something precious and strange. It's a real meditation on the process of seeing and finding beauty in the mundane.