Dipper c. 1936

Hyman Pearlman made this pencil drawing, Dipper, and right away, I'm drawn to the mark-making—all those tiny strokes building up to describe this object. You can see the way he’s worked and reworked the graphite, layering and blending to capture the light. There's something so intimate about the texture. It’s not just a representation; it’s like a physical record of Pearlman’s looking, his hand moving across the paper, building up this humble dipper. The way the pencil work catches the light. The details in the handle and the way the shadow falls—it’s all so carefully observed. It reminds me of some of Morandi’s still life paintings—that same attention to everyday objects, turning them into something monumental through the sheer act of looking. Ultimately, it's about how we see and what we choose to see.