Toast Rack c. 1936

Mildred Ford’s Toast Rack is a drawing about a toast rack, made with pencil and ink on paper. Just think about the pleasure in making this drawing. It’s about observation, looking really closely. The drawing captures all the details, from the handle to the slots for the toast. I can imagine Ford carefully measuring and sketching each part, trying to get the proportions just right. But it’s also more than just a technical drawing, right? There's a real sense of care and attention. It's like Ford is celebrating this everyday object, elevating it to something worthy of artistic attention. I think about all the artists before her who've drawn humble domestic objects: Chardin, Morandi... She's continuing a tradition of finding beauty in the mundane. It is a form of embodied expression and invites us to see the world in new ways.