Shop Sign: Man's Shoe c. 1939

Dorothy Handy made this shop sign of a man's shoe, with what looks like watercolor or maybe gouache, and it’s just so simple, so pared back. I love the way the colors are built up, these thin layers of brown and tan and it’s the kind of thing that looks easy, but it takes a lot of looking and seeing to get it just right. The surface is pretty smooth, and you can tell she was patient, layering each little mark and shape. You know, it’s not overworked, which is hard to do. And those little buttons, those are just like subtle dark touches. Handy made a whole series of these shop signs, so she had an eye for the poetry of everyday objects, which connects her to folks like Joseph Cornell, who also knew how to find magic in the mundane. It makes you think about how art is really about seeing, more than anything else.