Crock c. 1937

Editor: This is Yolande Delasser’s “Crock,” from around 1937, a drawing on paper rendered with pencil and watercolor. I find the composition really interesting – a preliminary sketch above and then the finished study below. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a conversation about vessels, both the literal ceramic crock and the organic forms contained within, even evoked on its surface. Vessels are rich in cultural memory, aren’t they? Holding not just substance, but symbolic weight. Editor: How so? I mean, it just looks like a drawing of a plant to me. Curator: Consider the symbolism of the vessel across cultures – the womb, the container of life, of potential. And the plant form? It’s not just a decorative motif, but a signifier of growth, resilience, the cyclical nature of existence. Doesn’t that deepens our understanding of the object depicted? Editor: Definitely, it’s making me rethink how I look at simple, everyday objects. The artist almost seems to be layering meaning through simple shapes. Curator: Precisely. Even the medium contributes – the ephemeral nature of watercolor, suggestive of fragility, impermanence, set against the presumed solidity of the ceramic. Do you think that Delasser chose the media because she liked the watercolor aesthetic or she considered the implications of choosing it? Editor: I hadn't thought about it, but now that you mention it, probably both. The delicate color enhances that sense of fragility you mentioned, doesn't it? This really makes you think about how much meaning can be embedded in something that appears so simple. Curator: It is deceptively simple. Consider also the artist's own positioning – is this a botanical study? An exercise in design? Or a personal reflection on the enduring power of nature and human creation? It encapsulates all those meanings simultaneously. Editor: It's amazing how a seemingly straightforward drawing can reveal so much about cultural ideas and the artist's viewpoint. I’ll never look at a plant the same way.