Preserving Jar c. 1941

Joseph Mitry made this lovely, delicate watercolour of a preserving jar sometime in his long life. It's all gentle grays, layered to describe the play of light on glass. I imagine him carefully plotting the perspective, getting the angles just so. Did he stop and refill his water glass and really study that? Think about all the looking it takes, the adjustments, the pure attention. The almost scientific curiosity to describe it all – not just how it looks, but how it feels to look. It reminds me of Morandi's bottles, quiet and still, but full of gentle, thoughtful looking. The goal isn't just to record, but to understand. It's like Mitry's saying, "Hey, look at this jar with me. Really *look*." And through that looking, we connect, we see something new, not just in the jar, but in the world around us. It’s the painter's generosity of vision.