Flatiron Holder c. 1939

This is a drawing of a flatiron holder, made by Benjamin Resnick. While the medium is graphite on paper, let's consider what it depicts: an object made of iron. Ironwork has a long history, of course, but by the time of this drawing, it was entering a new era. The industrial revolution had made iron more accessible, cheaper, and able to be formed in new ways. But this drawing shows an iron made by hand, with clear marks of the hammer and forge. Its form is determined by the nature of hot metal, bent and shaped with great skill. The flatiron itself speaks to domestic labor. By extension, so does this holder, which would have kept a hot iron from scorching a tabletop. The drawing reminds us that even the most humble objects have a history, tied to wider social issues of labor, politics, and consumption. It is an image of an everyday item, elevated by being carefully observed and recorded on paper.