Bark Peeler c. 1937

Chester Kluf painted this Bark Peeler, we don’t know exactly when, using what looks like gouache on paper. There’s a real directness to the mark-making in this piece, a kind of simplicity, but a simplicity that suggests a deep understanding of form. I love how the grain of the wooden handle is evoked with these layers of thin, translucent washes of brown, while the steel blade is given a metallic sheen using an almost graphic application of grays and whites. Up close, you can see these strokes really clearly. Look at the way the blade curves, how that slight jolt of white on the edge captures its sharpness. The tool looks so solid, and ready for action, it’s like you could reach out and grab it! This piece reminds me a bit of some of Charles Sheeler’s paintings of industrial objects. In both, there’s this clear-eyed, almost reverential attention given to everyday objects. It’s a celebration of utility, a kind of visual poetry of the practical.