Toy Bank c. 1937

Lew Tower’s watercolor, "Toy Bank," presents a whimsical composition of a clown atop a blue globe, rendered with meticulous detail. The palette, dominated by reds, blues, and yellows, evokes a sense of playful nostalgia. Tower's composition invites a structuralist interpretation, wherein the clown, globe, and base function as signs within a larger semiotic system. The clown, traditionally a figure of amusement and subversion, perches precariously on the globe, challenging fixed notions of stability and order. The globe itself, adorned with decorative motifs, becomes a site of cultural inscription, reflecting societal values and aspirations. The tension between the clown's chaotic energy and the globe's symbolic weight destabilizes established meanings, inviting viewers to question the underlying structures that govern our perceptions of play and power. As such, Tower's watercolor functions not merely as an aesthetic object but as a site of ongoing interpretation and re-interpretation.