Scale 1939

This delicate watercolor, painted by Edward Unger in 1939, captures a hanging scale. I can imagine him, eyes squinted, trying to capture the intricacies of this object, like a scientist trying to understand its weight and structure. Look at the way Unger captures the metallic sheen of the iron, contrasting with the pale, measured interior of the scale itself. You know, the surface looks almost illuminated, like a miniature moon or a gauge of inner light. The hooks dangle with a sense of purpose, ready to measure the weight of… what? Grain? Gold? Ideas? Painting these objects is like a form of still life, isn't it? Think of Morandi and his bottles, or the way other artists have tried to capture the essence of ordinary things, of course, things are never ordinary. It’s a conversation across time, each artist responding to the world and to each other, trying to figure things out through observation and mark-making. It is never fixed, always in motion.