Betty Lamp c. 1941

David De Vault made this watercolor of a Betty Lamp some time between 1855 and 1995. It’s a tender and quiet study of a small object. The lamp is rendered with delicate washes of brown, gray, and rust-colored hues. There's a softness to the way De Vault handles the watercolor. It’s as if he's feeling his way around the object, mapping its form through subtle gradations of tone. Look at the way he models the rounded body of the lamp. It’s built up through layers of thin, translucent color. The image has a quiet, contemplative quality. It reminds me of Giorgio Morandi’s still life paintings, in the way it transforms everyday objects into things of beauty. Both artists share this ability to find poetry in the mundane. Like them, we can consider how even the humblest of objects carries a history of use, a kind of aura that lingers in the world.