Tankard c. 1940

Hester Duany rendered this Tankard in watercolor on paper, but the image is really about wood, about carpentry. Look at how she marks the grain of the wood, the rough hewn surface, the way the object is pieced together! I think about her, really looking, eye to object, hand to paper, trying to represent this utilitarian vessel. Was it a commission? Or was she just taken by its simple beauty, its handmade quality? It’s like she’s saying, I see you, humble tankard, with your imperfections and your history, your slightly wonky lid, and the shadows that define your form. I wonder if she thought about the hands that made it, the hands that held it, or the lips that drank from it. It reminds me that everyday objects can be beautiful and worthy of our attention, which is the work of art, after all.