Glass Bottle c. 1940

Claude Marshall made this watercolor of a glass bottle. It's all about transparency, the way the faintest blue describes the bottle, like capturing a memory of light. You can almost feel the bottle’s cool, smooth surface. The artist is interested in the process of representation, not necessarily making the bottle 'real'. Look closely, and you'll see how the color pools and gathers, suggesting depth and roundness, but also flatness, like a diagram. The decoration on the bottle is shown frontally, like a heraldic emblem. The colors are thinned right down, so the bottle looks ghostly, like a projection. This work reminds me of Giorgio Morandi, but rendered with the simplicity of outsider art. It’s a quiet, unassuming piece that speaks volumes about seeing.