Silver Goblet c. 1939

Rose Campbell-Gerke made this drawing of a silver goblet with what looks like pencil. There's a real tenderness to the gradations of tone and the soft precision with which the goblet has been rendered. The subtlety of the light and shadow is striking, it's not just about representation, but feeling the light, and the way it plays on this vessel's surface. Look how the light seems to catch and linger, especially around the rim, giving it a soft, almost ethereal quality. The texture isn’t in the object itself, but in the artist's touch, the delicate pressure of the pencil on the paper. The way she builds up these layers of graphite, it’s almost sculptural. It makes me think a little of Giorgio Morandi, who could also make something magical out of humble objects. Both seem to understand that art isn't about the grand gesture, but the quiet observation, the daily practice of looking and feeling. And maybe the real art is in the seeing, more than in the thing seen.