Andiron or Fire Dog c. 1937

Carl Buergerniss made this watercolour of an Andiron, or Fire Dog, at an unknown date. It’s a rendering of an everyday object, but the careful handling of colour and tone really elevates it. I love how Buergerniss uses subtle gradations of brown and grey wash to suggest the play of light on the metal surface. If you look closely you can see a network of tiny marks and hatching that describe the textures, and give it form and depth. In the centre, where the light catches the top of the andiron, the application is lighter and more transparent, giving a lovely glow. For me, this piece has echoes of the precisionist paintings of Charles Sheeler, another artist who found beauty in the clean lines and functional forms of industrial design. What both artists share is a love of seeing and describing. But whilst Sheeler might abstract and flatten these forms to make them almost abstract, Buergerniss revels in his technical skill, choosing to describe every little detail of the object.