Compote 1935 - 1942

Helen Hobart made this drawing of a compote, and, looking at it, you can almost feel the pencil moving across the paper, building up the tone and shape of the object. I think I feel a kinship with Helen, as she has toiled over the representation of this object! I can almost imagine her squinting to discern the subtle shifts of light across the surface, trying to work out what to emphasize. It’s quite an achievement to give this drawing such a feeling of solidity. Those vertical marks, building up the cylinder of the stem, give a real sense of the object’s volume. The ridges of the bowl form a scalloped effect; the whole thing reminds me a little of one of Giorgio Morandi’s still life paintings. There’s something meditative about the way that artists across time can look at each other's work, and build on it in their own way. It’s like one big, ongoing conversation.