Candle Snuffer c. 1937

Erwin Schwabe made this drawing of a candle snuffer with graphite on paper. I am immediately drawn to the geometric, boxy form that contains the candle snuffer, and I feel like I can see Schwabe working really hard here, trying to find a way to express the object's weight through a series of delicate pencil strokes. It’s as if, stroke by stroke, Schwabe built up the material presence of the object, giving it a shadowy, almost haunting presence on the page. You can tell he's really thought about the design as well, with the little technical drawings tucked into the lower left hand corner. I can imagine how Schwabe might have seen it, not just as an object, but as a starting point for thinking through form, function, and beauty.