Silver Tankard c. 1936

This silver tankard was created by Simon Weiss in a drawing, but without a specified date. It's all about the grey here. Look at how Weiss uses the pencil to build up the form, stroke by stroke. You get a real sense of the pressure he applied, the way he’s coaxing the light to curve around this object. It feels like a slow, deliberate process, a kind of meditation on form and light. The surface shimmers with potential, reflecting an imaginary light source. Notice the detail on the handle. There’s a little flourish, a kind of decorative excess that hints at the tankard's potential function. It’s not just a container, it’s an object of desire, of ritual. This piece reminds me a little of some of Morandi’s still lifes, the way he kept circling around the same humble objects, trying to capture their essence. Art, after all, is an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing and thinking that keeps evolving.