Wall Bracket Candleholder c. 1938

This wall bracket candleholder was made by Richard Barnett, but we don’t know exactly when. The watercolor gives the metal this soft, porous, absorbent quality. It's very linear; Barnett is mapping out each fold and plane. But if you zoom in real close, you can see the bleeding edge of the watercolor, just a very subtle halo that complicates the rigidity of the geometry. The symmetry in the piece makes me think of Hilla and Bernd Becher’s photographs of industrial structures. They both have a similar conceptual interest in typology, and this piece, in particular, reminds me of their photographs of water towers: banal, anonymous, and yet sublime. There's a sense of humble monumentality to it.