Jug c. 1937

Yolande Delasser made this painting of a jug with watercolor on paper. It’s like she was interested in the act of seeing itself. Delasser really coaxes the paint, with thin washes building up the form, creating this sort of glow about the jug. It feels really like she wants to capture the spirit of the jug. You can almost feel the roundness, the cool, damp earth from which it came. Look at the flower she’s added, a cobalt blue, almost like a ghost floating on the side of the jug, or a tattoo. It's not quite centered, which I like; it makes the jug feel more real. The way Delasser worked reminds me of some of the still lifes by Giorgio Morandi, where he was also painting the same object over and over, trying to capture its essence. Art is, ultimately, always this exchange.