Stoneware Jug c. 1937

Arthur Mathews made this 'Stoneware Jug'— a painting—using what looks like watercolor on paper. The overall tonal range, and the image itself, feels subdued and quiet. I can imagine Mathews carefully building up the form of the jug through light washes, letting the paper breathe. The jug sits there, rendered with so much care, like a memory of a real object from his life, from his childhood, from his surroundings. Then there are these blue flourishes – the bird, the number "4" – like little graphic afterthoughts floating around the jug. These marks feel more immediate and playful. It makes me think about the push and pull of representation and abstraction, of making a picture, of finding some kind of form that’s both stable and ungraspable. It’s a tension all painters know. We’re all in conversation with each other, lifting motifs, marks, and ideas. This jug, in its quiet way, is still speaking today.