Bowl c. 1936

John Tarantino made this lovely drawing of a bowl, we don’t know when. What I really notice is the color. It’s like that sea-foam green glass that you see in old bottles. There's something melancholic about it, yet also luminous. Looking at the surface, you can see the hand of the artist so clearly. There are some parts of the drawing that are much more worked than others, with layers of color built up. But then, in other areas, the paper seems almost bare. It's like Tarantino is thinking through the form of the bowl as he goes, willing to leave some parts unresolved. Think about Morandi and his paintings of bottles, or, even more distantly, Chardin. It's a reminder that even the simplest objects, when seen through the eyes of an artist, can become profound.