Shaker Stove c. 1937

George V. Vezolles made this drawing of a Shaker stove, in an unknown medium on paper, at an unknown date. I find this rendering so beautiful, the monochromatic palette, the soft shadows, and the crisp lines. The stove hovers in the middle of the page, a series of geometric forms, seemingly balanced on three delicate legs. The stove radiates a subtle glow from the light gently layered on the metal surfaces. There is something so satisfying about the contrast between the industrial forms of the stove and the elegant curves of its legs. My eye keeps being drawn to the smallest details, the tiny door latch, the delicate pipe joint on top of the stove. Vezolles’s work reminds me of the drawings of precisionist artists like Charles Sheeler, who found beauty in the functional forms of American industrial design. Like their work, Vezolles presents a view of the world that finds beauty and elegance in the everyday.