Lorgnette c. 1937

Isidore Steinberg made this watercolor of a Lorgnette sometime in the late 20th century. The drawing reminds me of technical illustrations, or the kind of diagrams you’d find in a manual. It’s the kind of drawing where the process is laid bare. The light washes of color, and the sketchy lines underneath, reveal the way the artist built up the image, step by step. The use of watercolor gives the drawing a delicate, almost ethereal quality. The lenses of the lorgnette seem to shimmer, catching the light in a way that suggests transparency and depth. Look at the bottom of the picture, you can almost see the ghost of the object, hovering in the space of the page. It reminds me a bit of Giorgio Morandi's still life paintings, where everyday objects are rendered with a similar sense of quiet contemplation. And, like Morandi, Steinberg seems to be suggesting that even the most mundane objects can be a source of beauty and fascination.