Jug c. 1937

Frank Fumagalli’s "Jug" is rendered with watercolor, its palette restrained, almost monochromatic, which lends it an unexpected poignancy. You can see how the act of painting becomes a quiet meditation, a process of layering and observing. The watercolor is applied with a delicate touch, allowing the texture of the paper to breathe through the washes of color. The hues blend into each other, creating subtle shifts in tone that articulate the jug's form. There's a lovely passage around the middle, where the color deepens, giving weight and grounding to the object. This mark, not quite a shadow, hints at the unseen, the jug's potential contents or perhaps its history of use. Fumagalli, who lived to be a staggering 140 years old, reminds me of Giorgio Morandi, who dedicated his life to depicting simple bottles and vessels. Both artists teach us that the most profound art often resides in the act of seeing, and in finding endless possibilities within the everyday.