Foot Warmer c. 1936

Curator: Let's turn our attention to this piece titled "Foot Warmer," created around 1936 by Gerald Bernhardt. It is an interesting combination of watercolor and coloured pencil on paper. My immediate sense is that there is something melancholic, even forlorn about the illustration. Perhaps it is the subdued palette? Editor: Well, look at it. It is a very awkward arrangement of geometric boxes! Utilitarian. There’s an introverted, contained quality, isn’t there? Curator: Precisely! These kinds of devices speak to very particular social contexts—pre-central heating, perhaps. You have to wonder about the associations tied to it for the people who would have relied on one of these. What stories might be housed within this mundane object? What fears did it seek to assuage, and what memories were evoked by its daily use? Editor: Or maybe, this object embodies constraint—an effort to mitigate something ever present, but is, in the end, a rather feeble shield against a larger discomfort? Curator: That’s quite evocative. Think of how basic the symbol is. At its core, the piece represents protection. We find a rather simple visual narrative where there is something inside being guarded or shielded. Editor: True, the formal arrangement invites consideration, like, are we invited into the architecture or intentionally excluded? I suspect its appeal resides not in its external trappings, but the interior realm of associations conjured in the imagination. After all, aren't those small pinholes designed for warmth to seep out to make its presence known, which serves only to highlight its absence? Curator: Exactly. It’s also interesting how a simple heating implement turns into this little modernist fortress. I almost wonder if Bernhardt wanted us to ponder just how much our everyday lives revolve around the pursuit of warmth and comfort? Editor: Makes you realize the symbolic resonance these everyday items accumulate through use and placement within our lives. Curator: And consider their almost primal significance too. This seemingly mundane drawing touches upon themes that continue to affect how we navigate space, place and being in the world today. Editor: I love the subtle commentary on functionality. We often imbue common items with deeper symbolic meanings when we lack something, which tells as much about who we are, or what is going on in our interior worlds, as the drawing reveals about the artist.