Candle Mold c. 1936

Holger Hansen made this drawing of a candle mold with pencil on paper. I wonder what Holger was thinking when he made it. It looks like the pencil work came first, followed by the grey wash - a sort of underpainting, to give form to this unusual shape. It's a tall object, taller than it is wide, and made up of what look like 4 candle-shaped segments. I'm trying to imagine the light source, but I can't figure it out. It feels like the sun must have been shining through a window on a cold winter's day. When I look at this drawing, I can see the influence of realism on Holger's style. It reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter's photorealist paintings, only with a little more quirk. There's something almost abstract about the shape, and something very ordinary about the object it depicts. The tension between the two is what makes the piece so engaging. It's nice to think that Holger was part of a long conversation among artists, all trying to figure out the best way to represent the world around them.