Church Clock Hands 1938

Walter Praefke made this drawing of Church Clock Hands with watercolor and graphite sometime in 1958. There's something about the way these rusty clock hands are rendered that feels so tender. Praefke's delicate touch with the watercolor gives a sense of the material's age and decay. The rusted texture is almost palpable, and the way the graphite outlines the shapes gives them a ghostly presence. The palette, limited to earthy browns and grays, reinforces the sense of time passing. Look at the larger hand, its heart-like shape eroded by time. There is a poignancy in the contrast between the original intention of these hands—to mark the passage of time with precision—and their current state of gentle disintegration. I'm reminded of Charles Sheeler's precise, almost clinical renderings of industrial subjects, but Praefke brings a vulnerability. Ultimately, the piece reveals the beauty in decay and the quiet dignity of objects marked by time.