Police Rattle 1940

Carl Buergerniss made this watercolor of a Police Rattle on paper, date unknown. Imagine Buergerniss there, wrestling with the image of the rattle as it emerges on the page. I really feel for him, because painting an everyday object – like this wooden rattle with its brass fixtures – is hard! How do you make it interesting? How can you make a statement with something so mundane? He seems to double down on its ordinariness by making it feel very matter-of-fact, using the transparency of watercolor to describe form with the thinnest of washes. I think about the work of other painters like Fairfield Porter or Alex Katz, who also chose everyday subject matter. There is an embodied expression, an ongoing conversation that embraces uncertainty and ambiguity. In the end, Buergerniss’ rattle opens itself to multiple interpretations, inviting new stories.