Iron Grille at Window 1935 - 1942

Harry Mann Waddell made this drawing of an iron grille at a window with pencil and watercolor, but when? There’s a real tenderness in Waddell’s touch, the thin lines are so precise. It feels like the kind of drawing an architect might do. There is a freedom to the way the colors are applied, almost like a coloring-in-the-lines exercise, letting the pencil do most of the work. The pencil lines are so detailed, defining the surface with a shadow that describes the architecture of the wall. It’s the shadows around the grille that hold my attention; like a ghostly embrace or the memory of light. The grille itself is delicately rendered, the ironwork twisting and turning. Each little flourish is a dance, a miniature ballet of metal. This reminds me of Piranesi's architectural drawings, where the line between reality and fantasy blurs. I guess art is always a kind of barrier, or a filter, shaping how we see the world.