Bell 1935 - 1942

William Kieckhofel made this drawing of a bell using what looks like watercolor. It is brown, with a yoke that has ‘No30 Yoke’ written on it. I imagine the artist seeing this bell and thinking how, through thin layers and washes of color, they could almost rebuild the object, bringing the bell to life on paper. It looks as though he went back in again and again, coaxing new forms into being. I wonder if he worked from life or from memory? The bell is very simply rendered – it’s a lovely kind of industrial folk art. You can see the artist’s hand, the human touch, in the way he’s worked with the paint. He carefully used tiny brushstrokes, almost like building up an atmosphere, and allowing the bell to slowly materialize. He shares with other painters a fascination with texture, surface, and color, and of course the desire to communicate something essential about this bell.