Lamp c. 1936

This lamp by Eugene Barrell is rendered with such fine lines, it makes you think about the intense observation required, the kind of looking that feels like touching. I can imagine the artist's concentration as he carefully built up the subtle gradations of tone to capture the lamp’s form. The controlled, almost technical quality of the drawing reminds me of an architectural rendering, but there’s also a softness in the way Barrell handles the graphite, giving the object a quiet, unassuming presence. It’s so interesting to think about what it means to really look at something, to spend time with it, to try to understand its essence. What did he want to convey about light, or the objects that make light possible? I wonder if he was thinking about other artists who have looked at light, too. Perhaps he found inspiration in their works, echoing their explorations in his own way.