Ice Skate 1939

Curator: Here we have Erwin Stenzel's "Ice Skate," rendered in watercolor around 1939. It's quite an understated piece, really. Editor: It has such a lonely feel. Like a forgotten relic from some childhood winter adventure, doesn’t it? All the scuffs and muted colors… melancholic, almost. Curator: Indeed. Stenzel was a skilled realist. It makes me consider the rise of winter sports and recreation at this time. Skate production was changing too – evolving from utilitarian tools to sporting goods with growing cultural importance. Editor: You can practically feel the leather of those straps hardening from the cold, can't you? Though, technically, watercolor seems a surprisingly fragile medium to capture such a rugged, well-used object. A curious tension! Curator: It might also reflect artistic resources and training then. Watercolor, for instance, may have been seen as "accessible," lending itself to a certain kind of domestic aesthetic, in contrast to oils, perhaps, or sculpture. There’s a kind of everyday life reflected here, I think. Editor: Perhaps the intention wasn't realism at all, but rather the echo of realism viewed through a slightly nostalgic, slightly imperfect lens. Much like how memory distorts the past! Makes you think how much is left unsaid, you know? Whose memories are connected to this very skate? Curator: Yes, that’s wonderfully put! It prompts us to consider the subjective ways individuals remember objects within wider historical shifts, from technology to sport, childhood and family. Editor: Absolutely. I like the quiet dignity Stenzel captures. It transcends the mere depiction of an object, don't you think? It stirs a bit of personal nostalgia too... perhaps because this skate has an ability to call up images from other places and times. Curator: I agree. The understated simplicity encourages just that kind of personal, but informed, engagement. Thank you. Editor: My pleasure.