Slides and Buckles 1935 - 1942

Mary Fitzgerald made "Slides and Buckles," sometime in her lifetime, using ink on paper. The dark ink against the light paper creates a stark contrast, like a blueprint of a dream. There's something so satisfying about the repetition here, a pattern emerging from simple shapes. Each buckle and slide is rendered with care, the ink sometimes bleeding a little, giving them a soft, almost fuzzy edge. Look at the way she's arranged them, almost like notes on a page of sheet music or a diagram of constellations in the night sky. It's so restrained and precise, yet there's an undeniable human touch. It puts me in mind of Agnes Martin, in its simplicity. But while Martin’s grid paintings aim for transcendence, Fitzgerald’s buckles feel grounded, like a tribute to the everyday, the functional, the beautiful in the mundane. It reminds us that art can be found in the most unexpected places.