Plumb Line and Board 1939

Curator: Looking at Walter Praefke's 1939 drawing, "Plumb Line and Board," rendered meticulously in pencil, one immediately notes the striking emphasis on this straightforward, utilitarian object. What are your initial thoughts on this composition? Editor: Austere. Stripped down. It reminds me of early modernist photography – straight-on, almost clinical in its detachment. But there's a kind of inherent symbolism in this tool... it represents accuracy and balance, doesn't it? That dangling weight, seemingly so still. Curator: Precisely. And let's consider the context: 1939. This piece was created during a period marked by social upheaval and economic recovery efforts here in the US. Construction and infrastructure projects were cornerstones of the New Deal, and the plumb line represents those construction efforts to a large degree. Editor: So it's more than just a drafting. It’s also symbolic. That single, hanging element against the wood speaks to ideas of integrity and truth. It also, almost undeniably, feels phallic. The rigidity, the line, and then the dangling…weight. Curator: A potentially charged interpretation, I can’t deny it! Though it has been read and framed under a variety of lenses that speak more to the cultural needs to define what the future looked like after so many challenges, or what stability even looked like after decades of uncertainty. The symbolism gets us part of the way there in the grander narrative, and of course each element—pencil, drawing, woodworking and design—add so many additional layers for thought and investigation. Editor: Well, whatever it signifies, its quietness draws you in, encouraging contemplation. Curator: I concur. Its restraint encourages introspection. Perhaps, ultimately, Praefke wanted to remind us that something as simple as a tool for building can be a powerful symbol, filled with cultural associations and layers of visual and symbolic depth. Editor: It definitely reframes the way I’ll look at the objects around me. Everything contains the possibility for symbolism if we let it!