Silver Beaker 1935 - 1942

Editor: We're looking at "Silver Beaker," a coloured-pencil drawing made between 1935 and 1942 by Harry Goodman. It has a strikingly quiet presence, like a memory of a mundane object elevated to something almost sacred. How do you see this piece? Curator: Quiet is right, like catching a still moment in a bustling life. To me, it feels like a meditation on simplicity, doesn't it? This single object, rendered with such care using colored pencil, pulls us in. You can almost feel the coolness of the silver, right? Goodman uses these muted tones to give such a clean but calming vibe. Almost nostalgic, what do you think? Editor: Definitely nostalgic! I almost feel like it’s hinting at a past era, perhaps pre-war. There’s something so unassuming about the beaker itself… it makes me wonder what stories it could tell. What is most interesting is how this plain style relates to Modernism which seems rather ironic to me? Curator: Absolutely! It's like Goodman's whispering secrets from a bygone time. In modernism, even mundane things, could be revolutionary. Take the object out of the context of a still life and it might show us the pureness of art again. Now the Beaker gets to simply "be". But it isn't "Realism" either, that silver tone gives away that modern dreamy glaze that came upon the world. The drawing's "real," but touched by the artists personal reflection. Editor: That's a great point – it’s realism imbued with subjectivity. Curator: Exactly. It blurs lines. What I find myself going back to is that even a single Beaker like that gets its main glow from everything around it! Editor: Thanks, I will definitely spend more time thinking about the stories these normal looking objects might actually tell!