Shoulder Yoke 1939

Albert Geuppert made this drawing of a Shoulder Yoke using what appears to be graphite and watercolor on paper. It’s not a painting, but it gives itself over to the process of artmaking just the same. The artist is interested in the materiality of this object. The yoke is rendered in tones of brown and grey, and you can see the rough texture of the wood. The drawing has a simplicity, a directness which reminds me of folk art. I love the area at the end of the left-hand side, where you can see the hole for a peg or some other kind of fastener. I like the way the artist has emphasized the circular shape of the hole, and the way it contrasts with the straight lines of the yoke. I’m reminded a little of Marsden Hartley, who had that similar interest in everyday objects. Like Hartley, Geuppert helps us to see the beauty in the mundane, the extraordinary in the ordinary. For me, art is always a conversation across time, a dialogue between artists and ideas.