Christmas Tree Light c. 1936

Editor: This is Samuel O. Klein's "Christmas Tree Light," created around 1936. It's a striking watercolor drawing. I’m immediately drawn to the intense blue and how meticulously each facet of the light is rendered. What do you make of it? Curator: As a materialist, I'm less interested in the symbolic "light" and more interested in the object itself and the processes behind both its creation and consumption. Think about the industrial production of these molded glass lights—often mass-produced, cheap trinkets. Klein chose to represent this humble, mass-produced object with the "high art" medium of watercolor. Why elevate the mundane? Editor: Perhaps he was interested in the visual complexity of something so common? All those repeated patterns… Curator: Exactly. Consider the labor involved, both in the glass-making factories and in Klein's detailed rendering. Was Klein commenting on the value of skilled versus unskilled labor by elevating a cheap mass-produced light with fine art skill? It compels us to look closely at the hidden manufacturing processes we normally ignore in consumer goods. The social context—Christmas traditions and the consumer economy of the 1930s—are all crucial elements of how we understand this image. What was it like to celebrate Christmas during the Great Depression? Editor: That's a completely different perspective than I had considered! I was focusing on aesthetics, but you've shown me how to read the image through labor and materiality. Curator: Precisely! Examining materials and means of production brings the social and economic context into view. Remember, art is rarely created in a vacuum; the materials, process, and historical moment matter.