Wedding Slippers 1935 - 1942

Edna Rex made this watercolor and graphite rendering of a bridal slipper. She was a long-lived artist, born in the mid-nineteenth century, and living well into the twentieth. I can imagine her painting this, trying to get the sheen of the pale satin just right, capturing the delicate shimmer of the embellishments. The colors are so understated, but still manage to evoke a sense of specialness. It's like she wanted to capture the memory of the shoe, rather than the shoe itself. It makes me think about all the artists, especially women artists, who've spent their lives quietly observing and recording the world around them. Their paintings aren't always flashy or loud, but they speak to a shared history, a collective memory of beauty and love. It's like they're whispering secrets to each other across time, inspiring each other to keep creating.