Flat Iron Holder c. 1938

This is Joseph Rothenberg’s drawing of a Flat Iron Holder; we don’t have a date for it, but it’s rendered in graphite on paper. It reminds me that even technical drawings are a result of the hand, of a process that is felt. I’m looking at the graphite, how it captures the way light glints off the metal. Rothenberg gives each plane a slightly different tone, so the object seems to both emerge from and recede into the ground of the paper. The drawing feels descriptive, but also deeply intimate. I can see the artist closely observing the mundane details of this object as it sits in front of them. Look at the mark making, the way he has allowed the graphite to build up in some areas and remain delicate in others. It reminds me of Giorgio Morandi’s still life paintings, or even some drawings by Jasper Johns, where the real subject is not the object itself, but rather the process of looking and trying to capture something of the world. It's the same thing, over and over, trying to get it right.