Settee c. 1942

Here's Amos C. Brinton's 'Settee,' a straightforward watercolor on paper. I’m thinking about the act of painting itself here, the close looking, the way the artist must’ve really taken his time, studying this object to reproduce its form and structure. Brinton's probably thinking about the light hitting those rungs, the way the woven seat is constructed, and the challenge of rendering its texture. I can imagine him hunched over the paper, squinting, mixing the right shade of brown to capture that woven seat. The color's pretty even, not too flashy. It’s a painting about utility, and form, and maybe even a kind of quiet, everyday beauty. It's like he's saying, "Hey, even a simple settee can be worthy of our attention." And isn’t that what art’s all about? Looking closely, paying attention, and finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.