Bellows c. 1940

Oscar Bluhme made this drawing of a Bellows, we don't know exactly when, using watercolour. The brown of the wood is so warm, like a well-used tool should be. I can feel the air being pushed, the heat of the fire, all through the painting's careful details. The surface is smooth, almost like the paper has been polished. Look closely, and you can see the grain of the wood. The whole object is rendered with such love and patience. It reminds me of those Shaker drawings, a simple object elevated through attention. It's the kind of ordinary thing that Van Gogh might have painted, something so everyday that it becomes profound. Art doesn't always need to be loud, sometimes the quietest things have the most to say.