Salt Cellar 1935 - 1942

Janet Riza made this watercolor painting of a 'Salt Cellar' on paper at some point in her long life. It's that simple cobalt blue that gets me. Imagine Riza, peering at this glass object, trying to capture its form and color with watercolor. You know, watercolor is kind of unforgiving - it's not like you can just layer and layer until you get it right. Each wash has to be precise and intentional. You can see where she's built up the shadows to give the glass some dimension. I can see other painters in this work too, maybe Agnes Martin or Giorgio Morandi. All of these painters speak across time, echoing each other's obsessions and discoveries. Each brushstroke becomes a kind of conversation. And really, isn't that what art is all about? A conversation between artists, between artworks, between us and them.