Toy Bank: Uncle Sam c. 1937

This is Elmer Weise’s painting of a Toy Bank: Uncle Sam, made using watercolour. Look at those thin washes, it’s like he's gently coaxing the image onto the page. There's a real sense of affection here, Weise is clearly interested in the original object, which I imagine would be quite brash. But Elmer has managed to catch something innocent, like a memory, in the slightly faded colours. I can almost feel the texture of the metal and paint, especially on the box, where the red really glows. It is interesting how the paint is applied flatly to the whole composition which gives it a graphic, naive look. It reminds me a little of Milton Avery’s work, the way he also captured a feeling with simple shapes and subdued colours. With that in mind, maybe Weise’s painting is suggesting something deeper, something about how we feel about the symbols and objects that surround us.