Crock 1935 - 1942

Eleanor Gausser made this, "Crock" with what looks like watercolor or gouache on paper. I like to imagine her setting up the still life, stepping back and squinting to make sure she has the colors just right. The blues feel like a memory. Like the crock isn’t really that blue but it felt that way to her. The painting has a naive quality, but that’s precisely where its charm lies. I can feel the artist's hand moving across the page, delicately mapping out the contours of this vessel. The subtle tonal variations create a sense of depth and volume, while the details, like the inscription, suggest stories and histories embedded in the object. You can see how other artists might inspire each other to make paintings of everyday things. It's a language we all speak in different dialects, a beautiful conversation spanning centuries.