Brass Bootjack c. 1938

This is Henry Rasmusen's rendering of a "Brass Bootjack," likely made with watercolor or gouache on paper. Look at how meticulously he's detailed the object—those little stars and stripes, the filigree. It's like a technical drawing, but with the loving touch of folk art. I can imagine Rasmusen hunched over this, really studying the bootjack's form and its relationship to the space around it. What was he thinking? Maybe about the history embedded in everyday objects, about craft and labor, or maybe he was simply taken by its quirky beauty. I'm struck by the oddness of elevating such a humble thing. Is it a portrait? An abstraction? It reminds me a little of Charles Sheeler's precisionist paintings, but with more of an outsider sensibility. Ultimately, Rasmusen reminds us that even the most ordinary things can be a source of endless fascination, prompting us to see the world with new eyes.