Plate - "Orchard House, Catskills" c. 1936

This monochrome plate of "Orchard House, Catskills" by Helmut Hiatt captures a scene, probably with enamel paint. Can you imagine Helmut hunched over this plate, coaxing this memory from his mind onto its surface? I’m thinking about the way the image kind of wavers, as if Hiatt wasn’t quite sure if he remembered it right. There’s a push and pull with the material of the plate itself, its smooth, hard surface challenging the ease of capturing memory. And look at how the shells surrounding the central image create a kind of dream-like portal, enhancing the sense of nostalgia and longing. It makes me think of other artists, maybe someone like Giorgio Morandi, who spent his life painting the same bottles over and over, each time trying to grasp something just out of reach. Artists like Hiatt and Morandi, are in a conversation with each other across time, inspiring creativity, and making us think about memory and place.