Bowl 1935 - 1942

Editor: Here we have Agnes Karlin's "Bowl", a watercolor drawing created sometime between 1935 and 1942. There's something so gentle and humble about this piece. It feels very quiet. What speaks to you when you look at this, Professor? Curator: Quiet is perfect! The bowl—a humble object rendered with such care and delicacy in watercolor, speaks volumes to me. There is the quiet observation of everyday beauty, of the poetry in the mundane. Karlin gives this vessel—an object that contains and nourishes us—a sort of quiet dignity, don’t you think? Look at how she considers different angles and how precise the line work is. Editor: I see what you mean about dignity! It also looks like there might be other iterations in the top corner and on the bottom left. Is she showing all of the angles, or is there something else to it? Curator: You’ve spotted something brilliant! The bowl becomes almost like a symbol, contemplated from multiple perspectives. To me it evokes themes of perspective and consideration of an ordinary subject that suddenly transforms before us, into something truly worthy of a gaze and perhaps much deeper investigation. What stories might this bowl tell, I wonder? Perhaps of warm meals shared or quiet moments of reflection? Editor: I didn’t even think of that! It's amazing how she elevates something so simple. The three bowls remind me that there are several sides to a simple story. Curator: Precisely! Agnes prompts us to seek out the hidden stories in the quietest corners of our lives. To find art in the everyday. To give the mundane an angle, light and an alternative context!