Desk Bell 1935 - 1942

This anonymous drawing shows a desk bell, likely made with watercolor and ink. I love how the artist uses these thin washes of red and brown to suggest the wood grain; it's like they're gently coaxing the form into existence. You can almost feel the smoothness of the wood and hear the faint ring of the bell. The notes scrawled next to the bell—"this lever when pulled down rings the bell"—add a charming layer, like a peek into the artist's process. They're not just showing us the object, but also how it works, how it exists in the world. It reminds me a bit of some of Joseph Cornell's boxes, where everyday objects take on a mysterious, poetic quality. Art is really about noticing, isn't it? And maybe, like this artist, adding your own little note to the world.