Water or Wine Jug c. 1939

Nicholas Amantea made this watercolour of a stoneware jug sometime in the mid twentieth century. Look at the way he’s built up the form of the jug with these simple horizontal strokes, they give it a real weight, like it’s been built up layer by layer. The texture of the jug is amazing, isn’t it? The way the glaze mottles and pools, giving it this worn, almost ancient feel, really makes you want to touch it. Then there’s that cobalt blue, so bold against the creamy white, those blues pull your eye around the artwork. Notice the little bird, fish, and geometric shapes dotted around the body? Each one is slightly different, like a little experiment in mark-making. It makes me think of other artists who were obsessed with everyday objects, like Giorgio Morandi with his bottles. They both find something profound in the mundane, a kind of quiet beauty. I love that art can take something as simple as a jug and turn it into a whole world of texture, colour, and feeling.