Silver Mug c. 1937

Aaron Fastovsky's pencil drawing gives us a silver mug, rendered with such care and attention to detail, you can almost feel the cool metal against your fingertips. I imagine Fastovsky, perhaps in a quiet studio, carefully observing the subtle shifts of light across the mug’s surface, building up the form with delicate strokes. You can sense the artist’s concentration, the way the pencil moves back and forth, creating soft gradients of tone. It's like he's trying to capture not just the mug's appearance but also its essence, its weight, and presence. That little flourish on the handle, it’s so graceful. It reminds me of the work of Morandi, the way he could make everyday objects seem so monumental. You can feel Fastovsky is part of an ongoing dialogue between artists across time, each offering their own perspective, finding new ways to see and represent the world around them.