Teapot c. 1938

Edward White’s watercolor painting presents a teapot adorned with blue floral motifs and delicate foliage. I’m imagining White in front of his subject, carefully mixing washes, trying to capture the play of light on the ceramic surface. See how the translucent layers create depth? The thinness of the paint allows the paper to breathe, giving the teapot a delicate, almost ethereal quality. The crack running down the front of the teapot is so poignantly rendered, it reminds me of the Japanese aesthetic of *wabi-sabi*, finding beauty in imperfection and impermanence. It gives the piece a sense of history, of being a loved object, handled and used. The blue floral motifs are simple yet elegant. The slight asymmetry adds to the overall charm. White’s *Teapot* feels like a quiet conversation between the artist, the object, and us, the viewers.