Table (Occasional) 1938

Editor: Here we have Michael Riccitelli's "Table (Occasional)" from 1938, rendered in watercolor and drawing. It’s just a single table, almost centered on the page, presented in pale brown washes, but something about its formality strikes me. What do you make of this depiction? Curator: Well, seeing a mundane object like a table presented in what seems like a documentary style immediately makes me think about its context. It’s from 1938 – so just before the start of World War II. How might this have served some socio-political end? Editor: I hadn't even considered that! What public role could such an image possibly have? Curator: Think about design movements of the period. It could have functioned as an inventory for potential wartime repurposing, perhaps, or it could even have served as a display piece promoting a certain kind of functional, modernist aesthetic at a time of significant global unrest. Is this an argument for domesticity, a subtle attempt to portray the nation as functional, rational, and organized, in contrast to, say, burgeoning European fascism? Editor: So, in other words, by rendering the common table this way, it transcends being merely an image of furniture? Curator: Precisely! Art, even what seems simple, doesn't exist in a vacuum. What stories does its creation and exhibition context suggest? Also, it prompts us to examine our understanding of what art even *is*. Would this image be displayed at an art museum in its time, or elsewhere? How does *that* influence its interpretation? Editor: This is fascinating. Considering the politics behind such a simple subject changes my perception entirely. Curator: And that is exactly the point, isn't it? Thinking critically about art encourages a better awareness of the historical moment as well.