Pole Screen and Candlestand 1940

Rolland Livingstone made this Pole Screen and Candlestand with watercolor and graphite, and I see it's really all about the textures of the wood. It’s like he’s feeling each curve and grain as he works. Look at how he uses those browns and golds to give the wood depth, and the light touches make it almost glow. You can tell he’s paying attention to every detail, but not in a fussy way, it’s more like he wants to show you how this thing feels, not just what it looks like. See how the base anchors the piece, like a solid foundation, but then the rest of it just reaches upward. Livingstone reminds me a little of Charles Burchfield, the way he finds something special in everyday things. Both of them show us that even the simplest objects have stories to tell if you really look. Art is all about that—finding stories in the stuff around us, even a candlestand.