Ewer - Fulton Steamboat c. 1940

George Yanosko made this Ewer - Fulton Steamboat, using what looks like watercolour, with incredible patience and care. You can see the hand of the artist in every precisely placed line, a testament to the time and attention he invested in the work. The piece has a remarkable smoothness; the surface shimmers with the kind of glow you might find on glazed ceramics. Look closer and you’ll see it is just paper, albeit paper that has been laboured over to render its illusion. The meticulous nature of the brushwork makes it difficult to discern the tools used, or to clearly see the layering of the colours. The handle, with its delicate curls, almost feels like a signature, connecting Yanosko’s hand directly to ours. This connects to the tradition of trompe l’oeil painting, of course, and you can also see echoes of illustrators such as Joseph Cornell, who created art out of the ephemera of life. But unlike Cornell, who openly displayed the signs of aging and decay in his work, Yanosko created an idealistic vision.