Water Jug c. 1937

Yolande Delasser made this "Water Jug" sometime in the twentieth century using watercolor and graphite on paper. There’s something about the fluid and almost tentative application of color that speaks to the process, of slowly building up the jug’s volume and surface through layers of gentle washes and careful marks. The texture and muted tones of the jug are beautifully rendered – the way the watercolor pools and settles into the paper suggests the rough, porous surface of the earthenware. Note how the delicate blue floral motifs are scattered across the jug’s body, their loose, gestural quality contrasting with the more controlled rendering of the jug’s form. There's a little patch of darker pigment near the base, it almost looks like the trace of a thumbprint. It’s little touches like these that bring the image to life. Thinking about Delasser's choice of subject matter alongside an artist like Giorgio Morandi, with his still-lifes of humble, everyday objects, reminds us that beauty and meaning can be found in the simplest of things.