Iron Toast Rack c. 1937

Florence Stevenson’s Iron Toast Rack appears to have been made with delicate strokes on paper, perhaps in watercolor, and the browns and blacks are layered to mimic the rough texture of the metal. I can imagine Stevenson considering how to translate the object’s heft and utility into something more ethereal. I’m thinking about what Stevenson might have been thinking as she painted. She probably made the drawing to document it. There’s a realness, a practicalness to it, but it's also elevated through the act of close observation and recording. The shadow and light across the metal rack feel very descriptive, like a technical diagram. It reminds me of some of the diagrammatic works by Agnes Martin that she made in her earlier years, but this one with the beauty of the rust! It makes me realize we are all in an ongoing conversation, trading ideas, whether we know it or not.