Toy Locomotive c. 1936

Curator: This whimsical image is entitled "Toy Locomotive" by John Fisk, rendered around 1936 using watercolor and colored pencil. Editor: My initial impression is of quietude, a sort of childlike stillness achieved through the soft application of colour. The texture looks smooth, the composition rather balanced... almost symmetrical. Curator: Indeed. Note how Fisk utilizes a muted palette – primarily gentle reds and blues that delineate the volumes while adhering to realist representation. I’m also interested in the surface tension. It’s a fine line, quite literally, but one that seems to want to separate illustration from form. Editor: It evokes a sense of nostalgia, certainly. The drawing harkens back to a period of widespread toy production, during a rise in leisure time that saw objects like this locomotive becoming potent cultural symbols, indicative of family prosperity during otherwise hard economic times. Curator: An interesting proposition, and context, though consider the drawing on its own terms, for a moment. Examine the geometric volumes of the various carriages. The shapes almost vibrate in opposition with the picture plane, but still manage to connote weight and substance with delicate gradations. Editor: And, of course, these kinds of toys promoted industrial progress, framing trains, railways, and machines as positive advancements to a younger generation, while often conveniently ignoring the labor struggles inherent within. Curator: Perhaps. What I cannot dismiss, regardless of external interpretation, is the attention paid to the interplay between chromatic relationships, specifically regarding how this train comes to have symbolic importance from its individual components. Editor: A fair point, though its place in history does give us much food for thought when considering who the intended audience of such objects actually were. Curator: True, and analyzing through social and institutional history certainly provides new insights into "Toy Locomotive." However, consider how the application and distribution of colour provides internal logic unto the entire illustration itself. Editor: Perhaps this push and pull between the object and its societal moment only serve to heighten both our objective and subjective responses when gazing into such an artefact of visual art!