Locket 1935 - 1942

Vincent Burzy made this drawing of a Locket at some unknown date using what looks like graphite and watercolor on paper. The color palette is muted and ghostly, mostly blacks, creams and browns, which, combined with the linear quality of the drawing, makes it read like a set of instructions for how to make this object, or how it functions. There’s something so tender about the way the artist has rendered the locket, presenting several angles, like a technical drawing, but with a softness to the line that betrays a more personal interest. Look at the top locket, you can see how carefully he’s painted in the tiny portrait on the left-hand side, and the way he’s left the other side empty, so you can see the form. This reminds me of the work of Joseph Cornell, who often used found objects and ephemera to create intimate and dreamlike assemblages. But Burzy's drawing feels less like a finished artwork and more like a study, a way of understanding an object through close observation and careful rendering. And that, for me, is where the beauty of this piece lies – in its quiet dedication to the act of seeing.