Fish Weather Vane c. 1940

Curator: This delicate drawing presents us with a fish weather vane, crafted around 1940 using watercolors and colored pencils. Editor: There’s something melancholy about this solitary fish against all that white space, and it has such stillness to it despite being made to turn with the wind. Curator: It is quite poignant, and its isolation perhaps mirrors its transition from object of utility to object of art. One must ask why Sadie Berman, who wasn't primarily known as a watercolorist, chose this subject and medium? Was she deliberately elevating a common object? Editor: I think the choice of the fish itself is interesting too. Fish are heavy with symbolism: fertility, transformation, the unconscious. Is there something here about wanting to understand unseen forces? To grasp the direction of the winds of change, quite literally? Curator: Precisely! A weather vane’s purpose is to reveal the invisible influence of the wind. Placing the fish at the apex creates a potent, public symbol, directing the gaze skyward to assess environmental forces, so the rendering elevates something that’s useful. I wonder if this choice was about elevating what was simple, and handmade, amidst the industrialisation of that time. Editor: I love how the watercolor gives a sense of fluidity, motion and, yet as I said, it feels utterly still. The textures really draw you in. Each scale feels carefully placed, making it tactile as though one could reach out and touch it. Curator: Agreed. This seemingly simple artwork opens up broader questions about the cultural value we assign to everyday objects, and how artistic representations can subtly shift those values. Editor: For me, the enduring charm is in the visual language. Despite its stillness, it invites one to consider greater patterns of movement in our lives. The winds may be invisible, but this drawing gives them form.