Iron Grille at Window (a Restoration) c. 1941

William Kieckhofel made this drawing of an iron grille at a window, but we don’t know when or with what medium. Looking at this work, I can imagine Kieckhofel, maybe in his studio, contemplating this iron grille, thinking about its structure, its curves and lines, its place in space. There is a sensitivity here: a tenderness in the way he observes and recreates the object that is very touching. What might he have been thinking about when he made this drawing? I see the linear quality of the iron bars against the softness of the window and the sketched wall. How the artist played with these contrasts: the rigid versus the organic, the defined versus the ambiguous. The iron is rendered with a surprising lightness, each bar seemingly floating against the rougher texture of the window’s stone. It reminds me of the work of other artists who explore architectural forms, like Piranesi. There's a conversation happening across time, isn't there? Each artist riffing on what came before, finding their own way to see the world.