Four Post Bed c. 1940

Curator: Oh, look at this drawing! It's a watercolor by David S. De Vault, created around 1940. It's called "Four Post Bed." The gentle washes give it such a delicate feel. Editor: It's certainly demure. Almost whisper-quiet, isn't it? Like peeking into someone’s dream of domestic tranquility. The stark white backdrop only enhances the central subject by drawing attention to the linear qualities. Curator: Right? It reminds me of childhood bedrooms in old movies—cozy, safe, a little frilly. The details, like the texture on the bedposts, really pull you in. But also notice the odd isolation of the pillar off to the side there; the visual doubling draws out particular stylistic affectations in this "period" boudoir aesthetic. Editor: Precisely! We have these almost caricatured textures of soft domesticity laid bare with that secondary pillar. Note also how the lack of a vanishing point in the work forces one into close aesthetic relationship with the represented furniture. This work eschews spatial depth for intimate, surface detail, really emphasizing the visual flatness through the medium itself. Curator: Hmmm... Perhaps. For me it's more like De Vault is saying something about the space a bed holds in our lives; not just sleep but memory, longing, all sorts of emotional baggage. I'm thinking specifically about this drawing’s formal distance that makes it really speak, or in this case murmur... Editor: Murmur is a nice descriptor, particularly thinking of Jacques Derrida and hauntology... Curator: Yes! Precisely! See now, don't you want to climb into this dreamy time portal? Editor: In the spirit of critical engagement, perhaps for just a brief nap! It is something about this composition that just exudes stillness... A long slow breath of formal invention indeed.