Mechanical Toy c. 1937

Isidore Danziger made this watercolor of a toy, sometime between 1855 and 1995, but I wish we knew when. It looks like a study of a plaything, probably for commercial purposes, and I love the subtle palette, all greyed blues, reds and browns. He's really captured the feeling of the paper it’s painted on. Danziger's Mechanical Toy looks like it was made with thin washes and precise lines. Look at the boy's face, the paper shines through the watercolor creating a sense of depth. The overall effect is flat, but in a good way. He describes all the components of this little machine; the way the arms are connected to the body, the way the balls are attached to the hands, everything is clearly explained. I am reminded of other realist painters, maybe someone like Thomas Eakins, who wanted to show us how things really are. But Danziger's painting has an odd stillness, an earnestness that makes it special. It's a reminder that art is an ongoing process, a conversation across time, and that ambiguity is often more interesting than certainty.