Fan c. 1936

Vincent Burzy made this watercolor fan at some point, we don’t know exactly when. It’s such a simple, delicate thing, isn't it? The colors are soft, like faded silk. I love the way he’s built up the forms with tiny marks and dots. You can almost feel the slow, meditative process of making this, a kind of loving attention to detail. Look at the orange flower in the middle – it’s just a mass of tiny strokes, but they come together to create this vibrant, almost tactile form. There’s a real physicality to the way Burzy uses the watercolor. The paper has a slight texture, and you can see how the pigment settles into the fibers. It reminds me a little of Charles Burchfield, who also found so much life in the humble stuff around him. Both artists suggest that art isn't about grand gestures, but about finding beauty in the everyday.