Man's Slippers 1935 - 1942

Mary E. Humes made this watercolour painting of Man’s Slippers. The slippers sit there, shiny and new with their velvet bows, but they look like they’ve been worn down by time. They are presented without a man in sight, a sort of modern still life, but perhaps they are waiting patiently by the door. I wonder what Humes was thinking about when she made this? Maybe about the passage of time, the weight of history. The shoes don’t look particularly comfortable! But the red heels are a stylish touch. It reminds me of Manet, and his paintings of shoes. Humes, I imagine, was working to create something visually pleasing, but also to capture something of the human experience. We are all in conversation, all the time.