Stoneware Crock c. 1936

Fred Weiss made this picture of a stoneware crock, though we don’t know exactly when. It’s a painting of an object – and you get a real sense of the handmade, don’t you think? I can imagine Fred carefully building up the form of the crock with layers of paint, pushing and pulling, trying to get that subtle gradation of grey just right. I bet the paint is quite thin, allowing the texture of the paper to come through, like a fresco. It's like he's really thinking about the object, holding it in his mind. The horizontal strokes mimic the way pottery is made, layer upon layer, circle upon circle. And those little flourishes, those curly motifs, are almost like a signature, right? They’re playful and loose, a counterpoint to the solid form of the crock. It reminds me of other painters who take everyday things as their subject – Morandi’s bottles, for instance. It’s like Fred's saying, "Hey, even a humble crock can be beautiful." And you know, that’s what keeps us painters going – that conversation across time, each of us adding our own little touch to the story of seeing.