Chest 1936

John Dieterich made this drawing of a chest, perhaps around 1936, using lines to show carved grooves. It’s like he’s thinking through the process of making the object right there on the page. What strikes me is how he's using line to represent the negative space around the design. There’s a roughness, as he notes himself. The marks are tentative, but deliberate, forming a pattern that's almost hypnotic. Look at the way the lines wiggle and curve. It's not about perfection, but about capturing the energy of the carving. It reminds me of some of the folk art traditions where the maker’s hand is so evident in the final product. The drawing embraces the handmade, the imperfect, the beautifully flawed. It’s less about a fixed idea and more about an ongoing process of discovery.