Toilet Water Bottle 1937

Editor: This is Giacinto Capelli’s "Toilet Water Bottle," created in 1937 using watercolor and drawing techniques. I’m immediately drawn to the delicate quality of the watercolor. The translucence of the glass is conveyed so well! How do you read the composition of this piece? Curator: The success lies in the application of form and the exploitation of its properties to yield something beyond pure mimesis. Observe how the modulated blue of the watercolor both defines and dematerializes the object. Note too the slight irregularities that, rather than detracting from its form, vivify it. Are we looking at an exercise in design, a commentary on functionality, or simply an exercise in colour and composition? Editor: It’s interesting you say that the irregularities “vivify” it. I was so focused on the translucent blues that I hadn’t considered the drawing aspect, how Capelli renders the texture with subtle variation. How does this inform our interpretation of the work? Curator: Indeed. What seems to be merely illustrative then, is carefully articulated, activating what could easily be inert through surface tension. The artist skillfully employed the limitations of his chosen medium to augment the visual language. It’s no longer *just* a toilet water bottle, is it? Editor: Not at all. Now I’m noticing how the slight asymmetry and those variations in line weight almost seem to imbue it with personality, like a character study more than still life! Thank you for pointing out the relationship between technique and concept! Curator: The pleasure is all mine; it’s often the smallest interventions that prove to be the most fruitful in yielding aesthetic breakthroughs, shifting our perspectives on art and design!