Grain Shovel 1937

This drawing of a grain shovel was made by Eugene Bartz, we don’t know when, but the process is so interesting. The layering of the colored pencil creates a subtle texture, like a memory of the object. Look at the main shovel, how the artist creates the illusion of depth, and the suggestion of the tool's physical presence. The color is built up to show the interior of the object and those incredible woodgrain marks. You can imagine the artist focusing on it, going over it, and getting into the nitty gritty of what it means to look and render an object. And then the other shovel! Off to the side it is rendered in ghostly transparent lines, just a bare suggestion of the form. This drawing reminds me of the work of Giorgio Morandi, who also made a career out of closely observing simple, everyday objects. It’s like Bartz is not just showing us a shovel, but how seeing is itself a kind of labor.