Tumbler c. 1937

John Dana drew this tumbler with what looks like graphite on paper. I love the delicate rendering; it feels like an exercise in perception. You can tell he’s trying to capture the light as it refracts through the glass. It makes me wonder what he was thinking about while he drew it. Was he interested in the way that light bends when it passes through glass? Or perhaps he was interested in the interplay of light and shadow? It's a simple drawing, but it's also very beautiful. You can tell that Dana took his time with it, and that he was really paying attention to what he was seeing. It makes me want to slow down and really look at the world around me. To pause and take notice of the small, everyday things that we often overlook. Because that's where the beauty often resides.