Sugar Chest c. 1938

Sarah F. Williams made this watercolour and graphite drawing of a Sugar Chest on paper. There is a technical quality to the work, which documents the object with precision. And yet, there's also something very intimate about it; Williams has given us a view of the object in its entirety, in its deconstructed parts, which can be locked and opened. I wonder, what did sugar mean to Williams? Was it about the sweet taste of the sugar itself, or the process and labor by which the commodity was made? The way that Williams documented every angle, the key, and the handle reminds me of the way I try to capture the full essence of a subject while painting. But where I try to disrupt form, Williams has kept it all neatly contained. It's like she's saying, ‘Here it is. Look closely.’ It’s a gift, really, this careful attention. It reminds me of the Shaker drawings – so calm and precise. There is something there.