Breakfast set c. 1928

This silver breakfast set by Jean G. Theobald sits in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, gleaming like a well-fed robot. I can imagine Jean in the workshop, coaxing the metal into these sleek, geometric forms. The four black spherical knobs sit like minimalist sculptures. You get the impression that a well-dressed person would pour their morning coffee from it. There's something almost comical about its symmetry and its shiny, flawless surface. What was Jean thinking when they made this? Perhaps, like so many artists, they were looking to the future. These objects feel like they are straight out of Fritz Lang’s *Metropolis*. You can sense a conversation happening between this breakfast set and the world of painting at the time. The clean lines and bold shapes echo the spirit of geometric abstraction and the machine age. Artists build on each other's creativity across time. It's an ongoing dialogue.