Beaker 1935 - 1942

Charlotte Winter made this drawing of a beaker, and it's hard not to imagine her complete absorption in this object. The drawing is predominantly gray and white with some ornamental detail. There is a lightness of touch, a real softness in the gradations of tone that give the beaker its volume. The drawing has an almost photographic clarity that is quite mesmerizing. I am curious about her process; did she draw it from life, or was she copying another image? You can see that she has also drawn a smaller version of the beaker alongside the original, perhaps as a compositional tool. Either way, it is clear she was using her artistic skills to carefully and precisely observe something. I imagine Winter deeply immersed in her work, totally focused on the challenge of capturing this object in all its shimmering detail. It's a testament to the power of simple observation and the endless possibilities of visual language.