Cut Tin Candle Holder 1935 - 1942

William Hoffman made this ‘Cut Tin Candle Holder’ sometime between the late 19th and 20th century using ink and graphite on paper. Can you imagine him drawing this? I can, he’s carefully mapping out this pattern for a candle holder. There’s something so hopeful about handmade objects – especially those made for the home! You can picture him thinking about the light flickering through the cut tin and imagining how it would transform a space. Hoffman’s chosen a simple palette of just graphite, so the lines become very important: some jagged, others smooth. They create a rhythm that’s both soothing and visually interesting. And those little birds circling the edge? Each one is slightly different. They have the same spirit as Matisse’s cut-outs, or even those drawings made by Hilma af Klint. Artists who had a vision for something beyond the everyday. It reminds us that art is always in conversation, echoing and reinventing itself across time.