Roasing Oven c. 1937

Here's "Roasting Oven", made by Samuel Fineman, probably with pencil and watercolor on paper. It's a straightforward rendering of a roasting oven. But I can't help but wonder what Fineman was thinking while he made it. I picture him carefully observing and translating the three-dimensional object onto a flat surface, paying attention to the forms and tonal modulations on the metal. There’s something charming and almost old-fashioned about this image of a domestic object; its design and function are both simple and elegant. I’m thinking about Giorgio Morandi and his still life paintings. He was an Italian painter who lived from 1890 to 1964, and was known for his subtle still lifes of bottles, vases, and other humble objects, and the way he created a sense of quiet contemplation and beauty in the everyday. Ultimately, Fineman's rendering of a roasting oven invites us to appreciate the beauty and ingenuity of functional design and to consider the stories and histories embedded in everyday objects.