-C.D. Kenny Co. (pig)- still bank c. 20th century

This piggy bank by an anonymous artist lives at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. I love its drippy glaze of blue, white, and rust. The glaze does something that all painters know: the medium has its own behavior, and it goes its own way. You can think you’re in control, but then gravity takes over! I’m thinking about the hand of the maker—the many makers perhaps—who produced so many of these little guys. Someone had to dip them in the glaze, with just the right touch, to get that drippy effect. It makes me wonder, what did they think about as they dunked each pig? Did they see each one as an individual, like a portrait? When you get right down to it, this piggy bank is in conversation with generations of artists. From the anonymous artisan to Lucio Fontana, who made ceramics with a hole in them, it feels like one big continuum. I like the thought that the artist who made this could have seen Fontana’s work, and smiled knowingly.