Jar c. 1940

John Tarantino made this drawing, *Jar*, at an unknown date with graphite and ink on paper. Just imagine him, maybe in his studio on Little 12th Street, New York, playing with blue ink on a light brown background. He is considering the curves of the blooms, the sinuous energy of the stems. The flowers feel like they are nodding, heavy with pollen, or maybe even water after a sudden shower. It feels like a kind of personal shorthand, a quickly rendered sketch, that’s become the thing itself. You know, I always wonder what it must be like to draw like this: to be so free with your line, so sure of where you’re going, but also leaving room for a little bit of wandering. It’s a dance between control and letting go. What a generous thing to share these images with us, to let us peek into that moment of making. It’s a reminder that art is a conversation, an exchange of ideas that stretches across time.