Hitching Post c. 1937

Milton Grubstein made this drawing of a Hitching Post sometime in his lifetime, using graphite on paper. Just look at the precision of those lines! I can imagine Grubstein hunched over the paper, carefully hatching those shadows to give the post its heft. I feel a real sense of patience here, a dedication to capturing every tiny detail, almost like he's trying to preserve the hitching post for posterity. That hand at the top, though, is a bit surreal. Like a friendly giant offering you a place to tie up your horse. I wonder if he was thinking about the human connection to these everyday objects. About how we mark our presence on the landscape. It feels like it relates to other artists who blur the line between representation and something stranger, more personal. There's so much to think about when we look closely, right? It’s an ongoing conversation, and it makes you wonder what someone might make in response today.