Leather Water Bucket c. 1938

This is Alexander Anderson's 'Leather Water Bucket', made with graphite on paper. I'm trying to imagine Anderson making this; the slow, deliberate marks building up a sense of volume and texture, all those tiny movements of the hand. The graphite almost seems to mimic the way leather itself takes on marks and patinas with use. I'm thinking about all the quiet decisions that add up when you’re drawing, trying to make something appear real, or at least present. Does he see the bucket as something more than its function, but as an object with its own story etched into its surface? I think he does. It makes me think about Giorgio Morandi. He also spent his life looking at simple objects. It makes you wonder what these artists were thinking, looking so hard at the world around them. It is a conversation between objects, artists, and us.