Bank: Statue of Liberty c. 1940

William O. Fletcher made this Statue of Liberty, probably with watercolour and pencil. The whole thing is blue and gold, like a child’s toy. You can imagine him with his pencil, carefully outlining this emblem of freedom. It’s easy to picture him, because he lived until 1995. He was working away while Pop Art happened, while abstraction grew up and got old, while the Pictures Generation did their thing, and he kept drawing. Maybe he wanted to make his own kind of art – one that could stand up for something real. I think of the piece as a quiet, personal act of patriotism. It’s as if he’s saying, “I’m here, I’m paying attention, and I care.”