Pa. German Plate c. 1939

This plate by Giacinto Capelli might not be a painting in the traditional sense, but it's all about applying color and shape to a surface. Imagine Capelli, back in the day, carefully layering those washes of earthy greens and browns, coaxing that leaping deer into existence. I wonder if he was thinking about movement, about the stories these plates would tell on people's walls. The glaze gives it a kind of mottled effect, doesn't it? The colors blend in a way that feels both deliberate and a little bit accidental, like he's letting the material do its thing. It reminds me of folk art, where the imperfections are part of the charm. And that deer, frozen mid-leap, is such a great gesture. He’s been captured in full flight. Capelli is in conversation with artists across time, each adding their voice to the ongoing project of image-making. It’s all about how we see, how we feel, and how we make sense of the world, one brushstroke, one glaze, one leaping deer at a time.