Pitcher c. 1936

Samuel O. Klein made this "Pitcher" painting in the middle of the 20th Century with watercolor and graphite on paper. Imagine Klein, carefully rendering this pitcher; it's like he’s building it up stroke by stroke. He’s using these earth-tone watercolors, and they give the pitcher a sort of antiquated feel. You see the darker shades swirling around the edges, making the form feel round and heavy. It's like a still life, but with an almost dreamlike quality. And it is rendered with the decorative emblem on its side. There is a feeling of classical art with it. Maybe Klein was thinking about tradition, about how we pass down images and objects through time, with a nod to neoclassicism. Painters are always in conversation, always riffing off what came before. They are using techniques and ideas from the past to create something that is uniquely their own.