Bank: Policeman c. 1937

William Spiecker made this painting of a 'Bank: Policeman' sometime between the late 19th and 20th century. The color palette is very muted, almost monochromatic, dominated by shades of black and brown that give the painting a solemn feel. I imagine Spiecker, with a very small brush, carefully building up the contours of the policeman’s uniform. The buttons are pretty amazing, rendered with a circular dab of the brush, to indicate a slight highlight on the surface. It’s as if he’s not just painting an image, but also capturing the weight and heft of the original object. You can tell that Spiecker was really interested in surface. He wants to capture the slight sheen of the policeman’s leather shoes, the subtle gradations of dark and light that suggest the figure’s form. It’s like Spiecker is speaking across time to other painters like Fairfield Porter, who also made a lot of paintings of everyday objects. Artists are always looking at one another, borrowing, stealing, and riffing off each other’s ideas. In this way painting is really just an ongoing conversation.