Console Table 1936

This is Joseph Rothenberg’s ‘Console Table,’ made with pencil and watercolor. What gets me is the realness, but only in the sense of the idea of a table. It's not a real table, it's a drawing of a table. The way he’s approached the marble effect is interesting. He’s built it up with layers of thin washes, letting the texture of the paper come through, which I think is really effective. And it’s not just about rendering the thing, but about the activity of rendering, and making that visible. Take a look at how the legs transition into the lion's paws - the gold leaf effect here has been made through layering and building up the color. He knew how to use color to create these kind of effects. This reminds me of the precise color-work in a Gerhard Richter, even though the overall aesthetic is quite different. Anyway, I love that in art, ideas keep echoing and morphing through time. It’s a beautiful conversation.