Candlestick c. 1938

John Dana made this drawing of a candlestick, probably using graphite on paper. It makes me think about the quiet, patient work of drawing – each delicate line building up the form, finding its shape through repetition and careful observation. I imagine Dana, his brow furrowed in concentration, capturing the play of light on the glass, the subtle curves and angles. It’s almost meditative, this act of rendering an object so meticulously. Look at the base – that faceted, crystalline structure. You can almost feel the weight and solidity of the glass, the way light refracts through its surface. And then those soft, bulbous curves of the stem, each one a gentle swell and taper. It is a study in contrasts. Dana, like all artists, was surely in dialogue with those who came before, building upon their ideas and techniques. He was part of a long, ongoing conversation about seeing, feeling, and rendering the world around us, a conversation that continues to this day.