Lace Edging c. 1939

This work is a pencil drawing by Raymond Guterl depicting three delicate rows of lace edging. Imagine the artist, perhaps hunched over a table, carefully rendering each minute detail with a sharp pencil. You can almost feel the quiet focus, the slow, deliberate movements as the lace patterns emerge from the blank paper. I wonder what Guterl was thinking as he made this drawing. Did he have a love for the craft, or was he just interested in the shapes that could be made? Perhaps he was thinking about how to make the drawing look as intricate as the real thing, focusing on each tiny hole and curve of thread. Look at how Guterl uses line and shading to give the lace a sense of depth and texture. This piece reminds me of the work of other artists, like Agnes Martin, who also found beauty in simple, repetitive forms. Artists are always talking to one another across time, learning from and inspiring each other. And it's never a one way conversation. It goes back and forth! Art is all about opening up space for different ideas.