Jug c. 1936

This is Jug, by Nicholas Amantea, we don't know when it was made, but he used pencil and crayon on paper. The colours are muted, blues and browns, it gives the feeling of something not quite finished, a study maybe, or a fragment of an idea. I love the way the artist has rendered the butterfly in such a blocky, almost clumsy way. It’s like a child’s drawing, yet there’s something deeply affecting about it. Look at the way the brown crayon is smudged around the butterfly, creating a halo effect. The title 'Julius Norton' is written in the middle of this halo, so this gives an intimate feel to the drawing, almost like a love note or personal memento. This reminds me of Guston’s later work, where he embraced a kind of deliberately crude, cartoonish style. It's like Amantea is saying, “Here is a jug, here is a butterfly, but what does it all mean?” And maybe, the point is, it doesn’t have to mean anything, or maybe everything!