Washstand 1935 - 1942

This drawing of a Washstand was made by an anonymous artist using graphite and watercolor. I'm really drawn to the way the artist has depicted the woodgrain. It feels so precise and methodical, like a meditative act of translation from 3D to 2D. I'm captivated by the lower half of the stand. It's almost like a screen, with the vertical lines creating a sense of rhythm. The lines aren't perfect, there’s a handmade quality to them that adds a certain charm. The palette is fairly limited, mostly different shades of brown, but there are touches of gold that pop. It reminds me a little of Agnes Martin's grids, how repetition and slight variations can create a really powerful visual experience. Of course, Martin was working with abstraction, but there's a similar attention to detail and a quiet intensity in both. Ultimately, this piece makes me think about the nature of representation and how a simple drawing can evoke such a strong sense of form, texture, and space.