Pitcher c. 1937

Francis Law Durand made this drawing of a pitcher, maybe with watercolor, and it’s really a study in seeing. Look at how Durand uses these earthy browns and golds to build the form, almost like he's sculpting with color. The surface isn't smooth; you can see these little dabs and strokes that give the pitcher a kind of textured life. There’s this great area around the owl’s eyes where the paint seems to swirl, creating a focal point. It’s like Durand wasn’t just copying what he saw, but really feeling the object. This reminds me of some of the still life works by Giorgio Morandi, where simple objects become monumental through careful observation and layering of tones. There’s a quiet intensity in Durand's drawing, a sense of slow looking that invites us to really see the world around us. It shows how art is like an ongoing conversation of ideas across time.