Cream Glazed Pot 1979

Patrick Caulfield made this striking still life print, “Cream Glazed Pot,” sometime in the 20th century, with bold blocks of colour and thick outlines. I can almost feel Caulfield’s hand moving as he laid down those assured, unwavering black lines, framing the form and the flat planes of color, like stained glass. What was he thinking, staring at that pot of flowers? Was he just interested in form and composition? I bet he was also thinking about Hockney. There’s something so matter-of-fact about this image; a simple scene, but the way he's flattened the space, it pushes the foreground and background together. It’s as if he’s saying, hey, this is just a painting. I see echoes of Léger, too, in the way he’s broken down the image into its bare bones. It’s this playful, almost deadpan approach to art-making that still feels fresh today. Artists are magpies, after all, aren't we, always borrowing and building upon what’s come before.