Revolver 1935 - 1942

Rose Campbell-Gerke made this drawing, Revolver, at some point during her long life. Here is a cold hard gun, right in the middle of the paper. Above it, a stagecoach being robbed in a scene reminiscent of the Wild West. What do these two images have in common? Perhaps Rose was intrigued by the symbolism of the gun, its ability to create drama and action, or maybe it was a tool that was once a part of her life. I wonder what Rose was like? She lived to be 100! What was it like to be a woman artist in America at that time? I imagine her in her studio, carefully rendering the gun with a delicate touch, contrasting the violence it represents with the precision of her drawing. The drawing is direct, honest and full of intention. It reminds me how even the simplest of images can tell a complex story.