Small Earthen Jar 1935 - 1942

Editor: So this is "Small Earthen Jar" by Clyde L. Cheney, created sometime between 1935 and 1942. It seems to be made from watercolor, pencil, and charcoal on paper. It's a very simple drawing, a single jar. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's interesting to consider this image within the context of the 1930s and 40s. We're in the Depression era and the lead-up to World War II. The simplicity of the jar, its humbleness, feels tied to the social and economic realities of the time. Could this be interpreted as a symbol of basic human needs, a time when everyday objects carried a particular weight? Editor: I hadn't thought about it that way, I was only focused on the shape. It is just a jar! What makes it important enough to be in a museum? Curator: The fact that it's here forces us to ask that very question, doesn’t it? Museums don't just display beautiful things; they display things that tell a story. And the story this jar tells is less about aesthetics and more about values of a particular era. We need to question: Who decided this object was worth preserving? And what does that choice tell us about the institution’s values, or perhaps the cultural anxieties of later decades looking back at this period? Editor: So it is less about the jar itself, but about the ideas that people connect to it. Curator: Exactly! It prompts questions about social history and how we assign cultural significance. Also, thinking about how this imagery might have been co-opted for government propaganda at the time. Editor: This is a very different way to think about art! Thanks for clarifying. Curator: My pleasure. I find I always see something new through a fresh pair of eyes.