Candlestick 1935 - 1942

This watercolour wash drawing of a candlestick is by an anonymous artist. The candlestick rises up like a delicate column, and I love the soft layers of mauve and the way the light seems to glow from within. There's something very tender about the rendering. I wonder about the person who made it, and the scene in which they worked; perhaps they were trying to capture not just the object itself, but the feeling and memory associated with it. Did they make studies? Did they labour over it? Did they finish it in one fell-swoop? You can imagine their hand moving across the page, building up layers of colour, and searching for the right form. And you can sense the dialogue between eye, hand, and object; and that’s what makes this more than just an image of a candlestick. It’s part of an ongoing conversation between artists across time, inspiring each other’s creativity. It's a reminder that painting embraces uncertainty, allowing for multiple meanings.