Toy Bank 1935 - 1942

This is a drawing of a toy bank by Kurt Melzer. It's all straight lines, technical plans, with red, yellow, and blue watercolor washes—something of an architectural fantasy. I can imagine Melzer at the drawing board—it's not only the visual representation of the toy bank but also a kind of intimate portrait of the object itself. Look at these diagrams, each elevation meticulously rendered. He is not just depicting its external form but revealing its inner workings. There’s something deeply human in his attempt to capture not just the object, but its essence. He’s thinking about how it fits together, how it works, and how it will delight. It's a beautiful example of how art and invention can blur, each informing the other. The precision and passion are reminiscent of other artist-engineers, like Leonardo da Vinci, whose notebooks brimmed with similar studies. Artists are always conversing across time, in their different media, inspiring one another’s creativity.