Pitcher c. 1940

Frank Fumagalli made this drawing of a pitcher, we don't know exactly when, using what looks like watercolor or gouache. What's cool about it is how he's used the color to suggest the translucency of the glass, which is the key to the jug's character. The paint is applied pretty thinly, allowing the paper to breathe through, but Fumagalli really nails the light, watery quality, giving the pitcher a feeling of weightlessness, as though it might float away. The slightly wonky lines give it a certain charm. See how the handle's got these little curly-Q details? It’s as if he is trying to depict the almost liquid quality of the glass-blowing process itself, that moment when solid and liquid meet. It makes me think of Morandi, who made these amazing still lifes of bottles. Both artists are interested in the way light interacts with simple, everyday objects, revealing their hidden beauty. It is these quiet conversations with the ordinary that make art so interesting.