Foot Warmer 1940

Marie Lutrell made this watercolor painting of a foot warmer, a little heater for your feet, sometime in the middle of the 20th century. You can imagine her, can’t you, hunched over a table in her studio, meticulously painting the punched tin design. She’s really captured the texture, and that slightly grubby look tin gets over time. I love the symmetry of the hearts, softened with imperfections, and the subtle color palette of browns and grays – like a faded memory. It reminds me of Charles Sheeler’s precise but loving renderings of barns and everyday objects. Both artists found a kind of humble beauty in the ordinary. Luttrell's painting feels like a quiet act of preservation. I wonder if she had the original warmer in front of her, feeling its warmth, studying its details, translating it into a language of paint. So that we too can know it.