Drawer Pull c. 1936

This drawing of a 'Drawer Pull' was made with graphite and watercolor by Matthew Mangiacotti, who lived between 1855 and 1995. The rendering has a light touch. There's a studied looseness, a kind of dedicated openness that lets the object breathe on the page. Look at the top drawer pull, the way the gold is built up with these almost translucent washes, the graphite lines dancing on the surface! It’s like Mangiacotti is thinking through the object, figuring it out as he goes, rather than just copying it. The work feels connected to artists like Vija Celmins, who also make humble everyday objects like a lamp or a hotplate the object of great contemplation. But there's also something about the transparency that makes me think of Agnes Martin. But where she has her signature grids and geometry, here the grid is gone, replaced with something more floral.