Wall Mirror c. 1938

Raymond Manupelli made this design for a Wall Mirror, we don't know exactly when, using pencil and watercolor. What grabs me is how the watercolor sort of nervously hovers on the page. Look at the wood grain effect of the frame. You can almost feel the texture of the paper showing through. It’s so earnest and fragile, especially compared to the slickness a real mirror would have. And then those black columns with the stylized gold leaf ornamentation. It's like a strange cross between a neoclassical building and something almost Art Deco. It is a flat, almost naive rendering, but this quality gives it a dream-like aura. You know, it makes me think a little of Giorgio de Chirico’s paintings of piazzas – that same kind of still, slightly unsettling feeling. Ultimately this mirror design is not just about reflecting images, but about reflecting a state of mind.