Box 1935 - 1942

Editor: This is a watercolor drawing titled "Box," made sometime between 1935 and 1942 by Frank Fumagalli. The way the colors are washed and blended makes it look very dreamlike to me. What strikes you about this work? Curator: Dreamlike is a perfect way to describe it! The translucence of watercolor lends itself so well to that feeling. I think this seemingly simple image whispers of untold stories. Look at the decorative motifs – those roses, the swirling patterns on the lid… they hint at secrets contained within. Don't you feel a little pang of curiosity, wondering what this box holds, or held? Was it a love letter? A faded photograph? Editor: Absolutely! It definitely feels like a memory frozen in time. And the colors are quite faded too, perhaps reinforcing that sense. Is there a specific artistic movement or style that you associate with it? Curator: I wouldn't tie it to any one movement necessarily, though it certainly dances with Art Deco’s love for ornamentation, even while holding back. This seems intensely personal. To me, it is an imagined objet d'art. This may not depict something that ever existed at all, and maybe this piece asks what beautiful lives things we use and surround ourselves with in fact contain? And beyond that, what sort of feelings do we deposit onto the most innocent, quotidian elements that inhabit our lives? Editor: So, it’s not just a box, but a vessel of potential stories and emotions. I never thought of it that way! Curator: Precisely! Art often encourages us to look beyond the surface, wouldn’t you agree? What new possibilities now spring forth? Editor: It does indeed. Now I’m pondering all the boxes I've encountered... what worlds they might hold! Curator: And hopefully what artistry may surround what matters most, as we keep that safe in these intimate boxes.