Bottle c. 1937

John Matulis made this painting of a bottle sometime in the 20th century. He’s used gouache and graphite on paper to create the image. The bottle almost looks like it has been made with clay, or that it’s been fired in a kiln. I can imagine him hunched over this little painting, getting lost in the brownness of the bottle. Brown is such an underrated color. It's earthy and simple, you know? The way he's built up the tones with gouache creates a soft and velvety texture. You can almost feel the grainy surface of the bottle just by looking at it. I wonder what kind of bottle it was? What did it hold? Matulis’ work reminds me of Giorgio Morandi, and the way he was obsessed with painting the same bottles over and over. I think artists are always in conversation with each other, across time and space. They look at each other’s work and think, "Yeah, I want to try that," or "I want to do something completely different." It's all part of the ongoing dialogue of art, isn’t it?