Blue Glass 1935 - 1942

Nicholas Amantea made this drawing of a blue glass vase. The artist has used blue, blue, and more blue to render the object. The object is built from the bottom up with individual, vertical, hatching strokes. I am wondering if Amantea used photographs as studies, or whether they set up still lives in the studio. I am struck by the dedication to this glass; the patience to hatch all these lines. There is something very tender about this image, and the way the artist looked at the object, slowly building a likeness of the glass. I have to imagine that they are thinking about Cezanne, Morandi or some other artist interested in the way light transforms ordinary objects. Painters are always in conversation with one another! The act of observation is really transformative, it is a way of attending to the present and the way things look; light and shape as they change and evolve.