Door Knocker c. 1936

William L. Antrim made this watercolour of a door knocker, and just looking at it, I can imagine him carefully observing the object with a tender and curious eye. It's really lovely – the aged brassy colour of the eagle and the way the light hits it. I can imagine Antrim thinking about other kinds of eagles, like the sculpture on top of a building, or maybe even the way an eagle sits in nature and takes flight! He seems interested in the way the surface is worn down with age, and how the brassy colour reflects the light, which also reminds me of other painters like Gerhard Richter or Wayne Thiebaud. Perhaps he was interested in the effects of light, too. It's a sweet reminder that artists are always talking to each other, even across time.