Pitcher c. 1937

This is Francis Law Durand's "Pitcher," made with what looks like graphite and watercolor, maybe, sometime in the twentieth century. It's a study for a pitcher, a design, but it's so much more than that too, right? Look at the way Durand's used the graphite to sketch out the form, but then softened it with these washes of grey, so the pitcher seems to glow, but also feels very solid. The color is almost like a memory, and I think that is part of what makes this so compelling. If you zoom in, you’ll see how he uses the graphite to create texture, to show us the details of the figures embossed on the pitcher, the little scenes of riders on horses. It's kind of classical looking, but the looseness of the drawing style brings it into the present, or rather the recent past. Durand's work reminds me a little of Charles Sheeler, actually, with its focus on everyday objects, but there's a tenderness here, a kind of vulnerability, that's all Durand’s own. It's a beautiful, quiet piece, like a meditation on form, on memory, and on the simple beauty of things.