Stoneware Jar 1935 - 1942

Eugene Gill painted this stoneware jar, we don’t know when exactly, but it feels like a meditation on the process of seeing as much as making. The jar has this quiet, unassuming presence. The color is muted, almost like a faded memory. It’s all about the surface here, the way Gill coaxes subtle tonal variations to describe the form. There's a band around the middle of the jar that looks like it may have been achieved through careful blending. You can sense Gill’s hand in the softness of these gradations, in the barely-there brushstrokes that build up the jar's volume, making it feel both solid and ethereal, which, to me, captures the whole essence of art making. Gill's delicate approach reminds me of Giorgio Morandi, another artist who found endless fascination in humble, everyday objects. Both artists remind us that art isn’t just about grand gestures or dramatic statements, but about the quiet poetry of observation.