Walnut Desk and Bookcase c. 1941

Harry King made this drawing of a walnut desk and bookcase on paper. The way he's rendered it, the wood seems to glow with a quiet warmth. You can tell he really studied this piece of furniture. He’s trying to capture not just its shape, but its essence. I can imagine him spending hours looking closely at it. Each line, each shadow, seems considered, like he’s building the form piece by piece. I can imagine how it might have felt for him. The focused attention, the slight anxiety about getting it just right, and then the satisfaction of seeing it come together on the page. It’s like he's not just drawing an object, but also capturing a feeling, a memory. It reminds me of artists like Fairfield Porter or Elizabeth Bishop, who find the extraordinary in the everyday. In both life and painting, it’s often the small, quiet moments that speak the loudest.