Rocker c. 1941

Dorothy Johnson made this drawing of a rocker sometime in the 20th century, using what looks like watercolor or maybe colored pencil. The color palette here is really subdued, all browns and tans, giving it a kind of quiet, nostalgic feel. The texture is smooth, but you can still see the strokes of the pencil, which brings you closer to Johnson’s process. Look at the way she’s rendered the shadows, so delicately, like she’s trying to capture not just the form of the chair but also the feeling of light and time passing. The whole thing feels like a memory, hazy and soft around the edges. It reminds me a bit of Fairfield Porter's paintings of everyday life, that same sense of quiet observation. And it’s a reminder that art doesn’t always have to shout, sometimes it can whisper.