Scissors 1939

Wellington Blewett made this small, delicate drawing of scissors, sometime in the 20th century. The approach to mark-making is so deliberate, almost scientific, but what makes it sing is how it captures something about the spirit of the everyday. The drawing has a ghostly quality. Blewett's touch is careful, mapping the metallic sheen of the scissors with gentle gradations of tone. The floating quality of the objects reminds me of Giorgio Morandi’s still life paintings. Blewett’s scissors have a similar weightlessness, a quiet but persistent presence on the page. Look closely at the smaller pair, folded and nestled like a little secret. It’s so tenderly rendered, almost anthropomorphic. Maybe like other artists, Blewett embraced ambiguity over easy answers, transforming the mundane into something quite special.