Locket c. 1936

Vincent Murphy made this "Locket," but we don’t know when or with what. Look closely at how it's painted, those strokes of gold; it’s not about perfection, it’s about the feel, the process of bringing something to life on paper. See the way the gold shimmers, thin and watery in places, then rich and thick where the light catches? It’s like he’s chasing the light, trying to trap it in the metal. And those tiny details, like the hinge, they feel so precise and delicate. It’s almost like he's recreating a real object. Notice that smaller, paler locket sketched above, it's like a first draft, as if the artist is searching for the right form. It reminds me a little of Klimt, all that gold and ornamentation, but with a kind of humble, homespun quality. It's a reminder that art is always in conversation, echoing and transforming across time, with no one way to interpret it.