Tin Teapot c. 1939

Frank Gray made this painting of a 'Tin Teapot' and its shimmering metallic surfaces give the impression that it might have emerged slowly, built up through layers of coloured washes. I can imagine Gray, carefully considering each brushstroke, trying to capture the light as it plays across the object’s surface. The floral motifs make me think about folk art traditions. Are the roses hand-painted? What kind of source material was Gray working with? The design has an intuitive, rhythmic quality, almost like an echo. The thin white lines of the background create depth, suggesting the teapot is caught mid-motion, as if it were spinning or dancing. It makes me think about other painters who looked to the everyday – Morandi and his bottles, for instance, or even the humble, wonky ceramics depicted by Rose Wylie. These artists understood the power of observation and how much you can learn simply by looking at a thing, again and again. Painting is like that, it encourages a slow kind of seeing that can be both generous and transformative.