Man's Shoe 1935 - 1942

Gladys Cook made this watercolor of a man's shoe, sometime in the 20th century. I can imagine her peering closely, trying to capture every detail, every stitch. See those faint pencil lines sketching out other angles of the shoe? It’s like she's mapping the object, circling it, trying to understand it from all sides, or maybe just work through what to include and what to omit. The black of the shoe is so velvety, so deep, that it almost absorbs the light. And then there's the buckle, rendered in a silvery gray that gleams against the dark leather. It's interesting to consider the artist's perspective – what drew her to this particular object? Was it the shape, the texture, or some hidden story it held? Maybe she was thinking about Van Gogh's paintings of shoes. Artists have always been inspired by the everyday, finding beauty and meaning in the most humble of objects.