Flask c. 1937

This watercolour was made by Alvin Shiren, who lived a long life between 1855 and 1995. I am thinking about the choices he made, the thinness of the watercolour, which makes the forms appear so serene, but also fragile. It's like he's trying to capture not just what’s there, but also the feeling. There is a flower painted on the flask, and other botanical shapes on the page around it. They don’t seem quite real, but like memories of plants. I wonder what he was looking at when he made this. Maybe it was patterns on a piece of pottery, with the idea of the flower almost like a symbol of life. It reminds me of some early modernists, like Marsden Hartley, with its folk art qualities, and simplicity. There's a lovely conversation happening here; artists always borrow and reflect one another's ideas. It feels like this painting embraces the beauty in simple things, with a quiet sense of wonder.