Candlestick c. 1940

This drawing of a candlestick, made by an anonymous artist on some indeterminate date, it’s rendered with graphite and watercolor, and it's just so quiet. The marks are unassuming, almost hesitant, like the artist was feeling their way through the form. The color is diluted, washed-out; the candlestick is there, but barely. Notice the subtle gradations of color on the base, how the blue pools, suggesting both form and the play of light. It's like the artist is trying to capture not just the object itself, but the way light moves and transforms it. What I find so compelling is the stillness. You know, when you're trying to paint something, and it never looks like the thing you're painting? This feels like that. Maybe it is about the act of seeing, the way our gaze softens and clarifies. Like Giorgio Morandi, maybe the everyday object is a vehicle for something else entirely.