Plow c. 1938

John Thorsen, born in 1855, made this delicate watercolour of a plow at an unknown date, an object of labour. Look at how the washes of brown ink create the image of the wooden and metal tool. I imagine Thorsen carefully building up the image with layers of diluted pigment, letting the granular texture of the paper emerge through the transparent washes. He must have looked at the object with great attention, and his work is descriptive, but a little bit more than accurate. I get the feeling he liked it, even loved it - it's got a gentle touch. The artist’s patient brushwork makes me think about other artists I love, like Winslow Homer. Maybe Thorsen looked at Homer's work, too. Artists are always in conversation, riffing off of each other across time. This plow looks so humble but feels important. Maybe like a symbol? I wonder how we see this scene today, a conversation across generations, with ambiguity and different meanings.