Candlestick c. 1936

Curator: This drawing, rendered in watercolor, captures a "Candlestick" from around 1936. Editor: Well, immediately, I find it unsettling, though beautifully executed. The glassy, almost ethereal quality gives it a strange stillness. It’s like a ghostly remnant. Curator: Right? The subject itself is loaded. Candlesticks, especially in this period, speak to domesticity, ritual, even mourning, depending on context. How do you read the dolphin motif? Editor: A dolphin feels deeply symbolic—a link to nature, perhaps to pre-Christian spirituality. Yet here it's rendered in this cold, almost industrial form. Maybe it comments on the relationship between the natural world and manufactured desires in a rapidly changing world. Curator: I get a more whimsical vibe from it! A slightly odd centerpiece from a stylish dining room. The coolness you mention…it suggests a fashionable but formal gathering. What else strikes you about the execution? Editor: The geometric rigidity of the base sharply contrasts with the fluidity implied by the dolphin. It looks trapped in an art deco nightmare! But perhaps that tension between form and representation mirrors larger cultural anxieties? A desire for stability versus a pull towards transformation. Curator: It’s fascinating how much symbolism Roberta Elvis could pack into such a straightforward drawing. A single item that still somehow leaves everything to the viewer's own imagination. Editor: Right! It is still relevant. It’s prompting this dance between surface-level aesthetic judgment and a deeper reading of form and intention. Thanks for pointing out that Roberta Elvis crafted it! Curator: Precisely. It becomes a riddle, then, for later eyes and voices to debate over.