Dolphin Candlestick 1935 - 1942

Giacinto Capelli made this drawing of a Dolphin Candlestick, we don't know when, but it feels like he’s trying to nail down the object, to really see it. Look at the way the golden color is applied. It’s all about luminosity, how light reflects off the surface, and the almost translucent way the color is applied. Capelli seems to be interested in the interplay between form and light, carefully rendering the curves and contours of the candlestick to capture its three-dimensionality. Notice how the lines aren’t strictly descriptive but become a way to understand the object. The paper itself is allowed to breathe, it’s almost like another layer of colour. The sketchy marks give a sense of the artist’s hand, not trying to hide the process. It makes me think of Morandi and his still life paintings, obsessively painting the same bottles again and again, each time trying to capture something new about the object, about seeing. Art is a conversation, right?