Pa. German Flower Pot and Saucer

Ethelbert Brown made this 'Pa. German Flower Pot and Saucer' with watercolor. The artist's light touch makes you look twice, like an object half-remembered, or a description from a slightly out-of-focus memory. The coloring is mostly in the brown spectrum, light umber to burnt sienna, the shading is even and realistic. It feels like a study, a portrait of a pot, not trying to be flashy, but humble, observing. My eye keeps returning to the fluted edges of the pot and saucer, the attention to detail gives the object a unique, almost baroque feel. Brown doesn't hide the brush strokes, there's a real generosity in the way he lets us see his working. This picture feels like a relative to the work of outsider artists like Bill Traylor, it possesses a similar stillness, it invites us to pause and really look. It's a reminder that art is everywhere, in everything, you just have to see it.