Tailor's Table 1937

Winslow Rich made this drawing of a tailor's table, we don't know when, with what looks like graphite and colored pencil. The careful marks feel descriptive, like the artist wanted to record all its details. Look at the color, it's a limited palette of browns and tans, which gives the drawing a kind of warmth. It's a very smooth surface, and the tools used to make the marks are not very visible, but in the way the shadows are built up, you get a sense of the patience and precision the artist took in creating the image. See the way the light hits the top of the table, and casts a soft shadow underneath? It's subtle, but it gives the table a real sense of volume and presence. It reminds me of the work of some of the American Precisionists, like Charles Sheeler, who were also interested in depicting industrial subjects with a similar kind of cool, detached objectivity. In the end, though, it's the table that speaks, hinting at the activity, craft, and care that it supported.