Silver Spoon c. 1936

Erwin Schwabe made this drawing of a silver spoon without a date, on a piece of paper that has seen better days. It's not easy to draw something so well that it looks real, but it seems Schwabe was going for something slightly different, not just realism, not just photorealism. I bet he was thinking about the actual physical sensation of holding a spoon, the feeling of the metal against the skin. You know, he has got all these funny shadows going on and it is really making me feel the coolness of the steel. I love the little curlicue designs. It makes me think that drawing and painting gives people the opportunity to really think hard, and to really consider the shapes of things and how they can make a mark on a page. I reckon it can even influence how you see the world. That's what drawing can do. It can teach you to really see.