Jug 1935 - 1942

Nicholas Amantea made this drawing of a jug with watercolor and graphite on paper. It’s interesting how he renders the jug’s surface; the soft, almost blurry quality of the watercolor gives it a tactile feel. It's not just a picture of a jug, but an experience of one. Look at how Amantea uses color; that muted palette, almost monochromatic, draws you into the subtle shifts in tone. The slight imperfections and the visible pencil lines suggest a process of exploration. It's like watching the artist think, each mark a step in understanding the object. See how the blue flowers pop against the gray? There's a dialogue happening between the decorative and the functional, the painted and the drawn. This work reminds me of some of Morandi’s still life paintings, not just in the subject matter, but in that shared attention to quiet observation, and that feeling that art is really just about slowing down, looking closely, and maybe learning something new about the world.