Sconce 1935 - 1942

This drawing of a sconce was made at an unknown time by an anonymous artist with watercolor and graphite on paper. The design suggests a functional object, but it's rendered with a decorative sensibility that might reflect changing tastes or the aspirations of a specific social class. The precise geometric rendering, combined with the use of color, hints at the influence of design schools. In many countries during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, such institutions were becoming increasingly formalized. These schools shaped not only the production of art but also the values and tastes of their patrons. Sconces like this might have been featured in catalogues of available designs for domestic and ecclesiastic settings. The study of historical documents from design schools, and the social history of ornament, offers avenues to understand how this drawing was situated within the institutions and structures of its own time.