Jar c. 1936

Yolande Delasser’s Jar, dimensions roughly 29 by 23 centimeters, is an object of quiet contemplation, a conversation between the sketched and the shaded, the seen and the imagined. There’s a real material presence to the way Delasser renders the bird in charcoal-like greys. The soft texture gives the bird a sense of weight and volume, as if it could take flight from the page. Then your eye drifts upwards, and there is a light sketched outline of a vase, a possible setting for the bird, or maybe a metaphor. This contrast is so powerful! The sketchy vase makes you wonder, where does the real object begin, and the possibility end? The way Delasser has played with the tonal values of grey is masterful! I wonder if Delasser ever looked at Manet's drawings, a master of subtle tones and understated elegance. I love that art embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations. It reminds us that meaning is never fixed but always in flux.