Candlestick c. 1938

This drawing of a candlestick was made with pencil by Charles Caseau, an artist born way back in 1880. I imagine him, peering at the object, trying to capture its every curve and facet. The whole picture is a kind of study in light and shadow. Notice how Caseau uses soft gradations to give the candlestick volume and weight, making it feel almost touchable. It reminds me of Morandi's still lifes. In those paintings, you can feel the artist looking, squinting to figure out how light falls on simple things, like bottles. There's a funny kind of tension here between precision and ambiguity. It’s like he is trying to be exact, but at the same time, there’s a kind of looseness. Drawing is like that, though, isn't it? You start with an idea, a thing you want to show, but then the process takes over. You get lost in the doing.