Rattle 1935 - 1942

Dana Bartlett made this drawing of a rattle, no date given, on what looks like a piece of off-white paper. I can almost hear the sound of it, a soft click clack, like the soundtrack to a silent movie. The color is so contained, a family of warm browns, built up with very fine strokes that give it body and form. The shape is so simple, yet very particular. Look how the sphere sits inside the oblong frame, it feels precarious, as if it could fall out at any moment. And that little stick at the bottom, what’s that about? It gives it a slightly surreal feeling. It reminds me a little of some of the work of Giorgio Morandi, an Italian painter who just quietly got on with painting his bottles. Both artists seemed to find endless fascination in the most humble of objects. And both show us how much can be said with so little.