Iridescent Jar c. 1937

Curator: Looking at this artwork, I feel a strange sense of longing, almost nostalgia. It's incredibly detailed, yet somewhat subdued in color. There’s a quiet beauty to it. Editor: That’s an interesting take. Allow me to introduce "Iridescent Jar", created around 1937 by Thomas Holloway. The artwork employs coloured pencils, showcasing a fascination with decorative objects, likely representative of its cultural moment. What can you discern about that moment reflected in the glass and rendered so exquisitely in colored pencil? Curator: The peacock motif around the glass body resonates with its original viewers on different levels; beyond face value beauty and ostentatious display of riches, this symbolic animal resonates with ideas surrounding gender and power, making its visual messaging much more sophisticated. It brings up questions around whose tastes get historically valorized and who is placed on the cultural margin? Editor: The object’s original viewers likely situated decorative objects in gendered contexts as domestic and feminine in opposition to say, art, an assessment informed by distinct public/private divides in artistic communities. We can situate this in the interwar period. What effect might it have to consider Holloway's position when this piece was made in terms of social reception, versus today’s art landscape? Curator: If Holloway produced the piece for their personal archives, this adds layers to its intimacy, while the piece has now migrated through a host of display infrastructures for public consumption in the institution. As its social life becomes unanchored, its queer aesthetic allows different readings in response to shifts in power and politics of the artworld. What strikes me is how charged even this drawing of a relatively 'simple' iridescent jar can be once we unpack its loaded symbolisms through intersectional reading. Editor: Exactly! We often regard "simplicity" as neutral, yet even the iridescent treatment, the coloured pencils – decisions are embedded with value and cultural inflection. Considering institutions that elevate objects for display, the piece subtly prompts considerations around issues of marginalisation. The way it compels the audience to unpack hidden meanings, not only to celebrate it formally. That tension is incredibly enriching. Curator: Precisely, looking beyond just the visual allows us to rethink histories and reimagine contemporary values through art's powerful messages. Editor: Indeed. There is so much here. It prompts considerations around art, social power, and interpretation in an institutional context.