Bridle with Braided Rawhide Reins c. 1937

Clyde Cheney made this drawing of a bridle with braided rawhide reins. It has this meticulous, careful quality - you can feel the artist really looking, working slowly. I love that. The palette is pared back, browns and grays. It's almost diagrammatic, a study of form, but Cheney manages to invest it with a certain emotional weight. There's this lovely detail on the braided reins, see how the artist renders the texture, almost caressing the form of the rope. It brings something unexpected to this very practical object. This feels aligned to the drawings of artists like Alfred Jensen or Forrest Bess, who were also interested in the power of pattern and repetition. Art is like that, a conversation across time and place.