Glass Bowl 1935 - 1942

Curator: Here we have Beverly Chichester's "Glass Bowl," a watercolor and drawing completed between 1935 and 1942. It captures a simple glass bowl. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: Oh, it feels delicate and ethereal. Like something you'd find in a fairytale kitchen. The transparency achieved through watercolor gives it an almost magical quality, wouldn’t you agree? Curator: Absolutely. Consider how the bowl, likely an ordinary, mass-produced item, becomes elevated through the artistic gaze. The Modernist period, in which this piece was created, had a lot to say about consumption and the home. How objects could speak to social status. Editor: Right! It is all about what you put inside the bowl. I keep imagining colorful candies or, dramatically, ashes, or even tears, which could change the bowl’s narrative drastically. I think the emptiness amplifies potential narratives, right? Curator: I agree. Emptiness speaks to absence, and invites consideration about those absent from the table, or even from material comfort during that time. Remember, we’re moving through the Great Depression when this was created. Editor: You're right. The bowl reflects that quiet yearning. Its form feels classically elegant. However, it feels cold... not vibrant and hopeful as in, let's say, a bowl of colorful candies. But even cold, there is something to be taken and interpreted from the "ordinary". Curator: It certainly reframes how we interpret the everyday. The drawing style is simplistic and focused. The artist directs our attention not to opulence but perhaps resilience. Editor: I'd agree on that. Perhaps even beauty in starkness? Thank you for the reflection, always happy to see every object in an artistic way, thanks to artists and, of course, curators. Curator: A pleasure. Looking at art invites introspection and dialogue across perspectives, and it serves to better connect history with modern realities.