Foot Warmer 1939

Carl Buergerniss made this drawing of a foot warmer, it's precise with pencil and watercolour, and he's really gone to town on the details. I can imagine Buergerniss, bent over his desk, carefully rendering the patterns of holes in the metal, the gentle curves of the wooden frame, and the way the light catches the handle. It's so unassuming but it’s full of craft. You can see the hand of the artist in the way he’s observed the object, almost caressing it with his eyes. The metal has a subtle shimmer with a wonderful colour. It feels like Buergerniss really wanted to nail the structure of the thing. This almost obsessive attention reminds me of other artists who find beauty in the mundane, like Morandi with his bottles, or maybe some of those Shaker drawings. It's a reminder that art can be found in the everyday, in the things we often overlook. It’s a quiet kind of beauty.