Horse Shoe Candle Holder c. 1939

This watercolor shows a horse shoe candle holder. I wonder what John Swientochowski was thinking when he made it. Was he fascinated by its utilitarian beauty? Did he have it in his house, or did he find it and think, "This needs to be documented?" I can feel his curiosity. There's something so satisfying about the way the form emerges from the page, in thin layers of pigment. It’s like he is conjuring the object. The colors are muted, but they give the metal body. The surface of the holder has a beautiful texture. It’s so nice when someone takes an everyday thing and really looks at it, transforming it into something else. I see echoes of other artists who also find beauty in the mundane, like Giorgio Morandi. The more things change, the more they stay the same: artists are in constant conversation.