Baby's Cradle 1935 - 1942

Edna Rex made this watercolor of a baby's cradle, and what strikes me is the simplicity, not just of the subject, but of the making. It's a sketch, really, direct and unassuming. The color palette is limited to the warm browns of the wood and the pale background, but within that, she finds a range of tones. Look at how she uses thin washes to suggest the shadows and the woven texture of the base. There's a tenderness in her touch, a lightness that mirrors the cradle’s purpose. And the way she leaves the paper bare in places, it’s like she’s inviting us to imagine the space, the room, the life that surrounds this object. It reminds me a bit of some of Fairfield Porter’s interiors, that same quiet attention to the everyday. But Rex brings a more personal, intimate quality to it, like a memory captured in paint. Art, at its best, is just that - a way of holding onto moments and sharing them with others.