Table c. 1953

Curator: Immediately, I sense a warmth and nostalgia from this piece; it makes me want to brew some tea and have a good heart-to-heart. Editor: This is a drawing entitled "Table" by Harry Eisman, created circa 1953. The medium here is coloured pencil on paper, and it really encapsulates a moment of mid-century domesticity. Curator: It’s simple, almost childlike in its rendering, which is part of its charm, I think. Look at the light hitting the surface—do you notice how carefully the wood grain is replicated? Editor: Absolutely. I see a meticulousness that grounds it, contrasting the sort of naive angle. Eisman may have been engaging with the mid-century artistic focus on everyday objects. Artists were examining ordinary items to distill greater meaning in this era. Curator: Making the mundane, monumental, perhaps. I can’t help but think about my own childhood and the small tables in my grandmother's house—filled with candies or holding stacks of magazines. There is almost a personal familiarity to it. What about you? Does this image strike an intimate chord? Editor: Perhaps not in a nostalgic way for me; though I wonder if such realistic images affected public perception, normalizing design or creating demand for specific kinds of furniture. But I also notice something slightly precarious. That triangular base—is it stable? The angles imply some level of geometric perfection, though I imagine that balance is an issue with real models of similar design. Curator: Yes! I'm drawn to the tension of form and function implied here. Despite the realism in the depiction, the colored pencils and soft blending soften that tension so. Perhaps Eisman aimed to reveal art within utility. Editor: I think so too. Overall, reflecting on the art makes me question the many layers hidden in this seemingly plain portrayal. Curator: Exactly. For me, it's made me nostalgic for a world filled with family treasures of the mundane sort, lovingly portrayed by their owners.