Candlestick c. 1937

Curator: We’re looking at a pencil drawing entitled "Candlestick," created by John Fisk around 1937. Editor: It’s so delicately rendered! There's something ghostly about the almost see-through quality, a captured memory of light itself. Curator: Exactly, the subtleties in the shading beautifully suggest transparency and reflectiveness using solely pencil. What can you tell me about what the image brings to mind? Editor: It certainly evokes a sense of domesticity, doesn't it? Candlesticks represent hearth and home, warmth and safety. But also, because they hold fire, they are symbols of ritual, spirituality, even mourning. They mark transitions. Curator: The symbolism layered into common household objects! Think about the industrial context of this object and image though. While depicting the intimate sphere of a candle holder, Fisk's style points toward mass production and standardized design from the mid-20th century. Editor: I suppose seeing this during the late 1930s might inspire comfort, nostalgia even, thinking back to slower pre-industrial times in light of so much change happening so rapidly? Light offering direction through darkness in uncertain times? Curator: The candlestick represents a manufactured item designed to meet evolving domestic needs. Consider how advances in production changed the materials that went into our daily routines – from hand-poured wax to manufactured candles. Editor: It is true though that such subtle work highlights both our dependence on these simple objects and their intrinsic symbolism for so much. Thank you for providing insights to consider around that contrast of symbol and materiality. Curator: It has also given me new questions to consider as I reflect upon these themes from a Materialist perspective.