Creamer c. 1936

Frank Fumagalli made this watercolor on paper, "Creamer". The violet color sings on the page! I imagine Fumagalli swirling the brush with watery pigment to capture the light filtering through glass. There’s something very pleasing about the balance between the loose washes and the details he includes in the handle. It makes me wonder what Fumagalli was like. Was he a patient person? I can imagine him thinking about the way this object sits in domestic space: as a vessel which is both useful and beautiful. The way the color pools at the bottom also gets me thinking. The violet bleeds, dark to light, and the effect suggests the weight of the object, while also creating a sense of transparency. I see him working carefully to build up layers, letting each one dry, like Morandi in his still life paintings, and it reminds me that painting is just a long, slow conversation between artists across time.