Chest c. 1937

Meyer Goldbaum made this drawing of a chest with what looks like watercolor, and a fine pen to capture the details. You can almost feel him moving around the object, trying to capture its form, but also it's essence. The artist’s toolbox here is a restricted palette of browns, creams, and blacks. See how the color subtly shifts across the surface, giving the chest a feeling of depth and weight, but also somehow of lightness. The surface of the chest is so carefully rendered, and yet it's all an illusion created by the artists hand. Look closely at the details on the upper panels; the way the light catches the edges, the shadows that define the forms. I particularly love the knobs on the draws, like dark little eyes staring back at you. Looking at this, I’m reminded of the work of Agnes Martin, another artist who found so much space for expression within such a seemingly limited framework. Art is all about this endless conversation between artists, a search for new ways of seeing and experiencing the world.