Chest of Drawers 1935 - 1942

Frances Lichten made this Chest of Drawers with watercolour and graphite. I love the balance between precision and playfulness! The green feels almost structural, providing a solid grid, while the orange-red of the drawers feels softer and more inviting. Notice the way the artist allows some edges to blur, as if inviting the colors to mingle and blend a little bit. The angels on the bottom drawer, with their careful outlines and delicate shading, feel almost like paper dolls carefully placed on the surface. Then you have the birds, which are rendered so simply they almost seem like symbols. This work reminds me of a drawing by Philip Guston, an image distilled to its essence, where every mark feels both deliberate and open to interpretation. It’s a testament to the power of art to embrace ambiguity.