Pa. German Deep Dish c. 1939

Fritz Boehmer made this watercolor painting of a Pennsylvania German deep dish; we don't know exactly when. The controlled palette gives this piece an earthy feel. Look at the concentric circles at the center of the dish and how the triangle shape holds this central design together. The texture is smooth. It's hard to see what tools Boehmer might have used here, but the colors aren’t mixed much, if at all, so the painting itself seems to be about separation. It is a translation of the real thing with little added or taken away. The dish’s border design of green arches is also interesting, like a little army protecting the plate. Thinking about that border and the plate's intended purpose, it makes me think of another German artist, Hannah Hoch. Though Hoch worked with collage, I wonder if she may have been thinking about her own traditions, too. I love the way art works like this, speaking to each other across time.