Mortar and Pestle c. 1936

Theodore Pfitzer made this watercolour painting, Mortar and Pestle, at an unknown date. The painting style is so gentle, and its tone quiet. I really feel like I am standing right next to him. He is using the paint so subtly to make the wood grain of the mortar and pestle feel round and real, like I could reach out and touch it. I can imagine him concentrating, trying to get the exact shape of the pestle, how it fits just so into the round mouth of the mortar. It’s all in shades of brown and tan, but it’s not boring at all. This work reminds me of Giorgio Morandi, who also concentrated on the same objects again and again, like bottles and jars. Maybe Pfitzer was also interested in really seeing something by painting it over and over. It feels like a painting about looking closely, and maybe about finding beauty in the ordinary things around us.