Waste Jar c. 1937

Joseph Sudek made this drawing of a jar with what looks like graphite or charcoal, with a subtle range of gray tones. You can almost feel the powdery softness of the medium on the paper, can’t you? I really get the feeling Sudek was trying to capture the essence of this simple form. It's like he's saying, "Hey, even a humble waste jar can be beautiful if you really look at it." The way he's shaded it so carefully, giving it weight and volume, it’s pretty wonderful, right? It reminds me of Giorgio Morandi, who also spent his life painting the same bottles and jars over and over. There is something so meditative about that kind of repetition, like they’re trying to get closer to some kind of truth. I think artists get into a conversation with one another across time – riffing off each other’s ideas. And each time, it opens up new possibilities for seeing and understanding the world.