Trivet c. 1942

Editor: So here we have Violet Hartenstein's pencil drawing, "Trivet," from around 1942. I find the stark realism kind of melancholy; it's like a ghost of industry, carefully rendered but somehow…obsolete. What jumps out at you? Curator: Oh, that "ghost" feeling resonates! It's funny, isn't it, how a simple kitchen tool, rendered with such precision, becomes this almost mournful emblem? For me, it’s the meticulousness, the artist’s almost loving attention to detail. Did Hartenstein see beauty in this functional object? Perhaps she was drawn to its geometry, the play of light and shadow across its surface. The text embedded also makes me think - a sort of document. Editor: That's a cool point. It also makes me wonder about her choice of medium, a humble pencil. Do you think that contributes to the artwork’s overall effect? Curator: Absolutely. Pencil lends itself so well to realism; but more than that – a personal touch! She chose, perhaps subconsciously, a medium intimately connected to process, a stark contrast to the industrial manufacture represented. It is a reminder of the person using that everyday object, no? There's a warmth there, don’t you think? What's the history of that place she's memorializing there? It is also beautiful because it is of the era. Editor: I guess so. I’d been focusing on the tool’s quiet loneliness, but you're right; there's affection in how precisely it's drawn. The tool is very ordinary - yet her perspective renders it beautifully - very evocative. Curator: Precisely. Ordinary transformed into something deeply felt, even profound. Thanks for opening my eyes to what at first, for me, was a neutral image. I now can embrace her reverence.