Silver Teapot c. 1938

Hester Duany made this drawing of a silver teapot, but when exactly, we don’t know. I see her carefully building up tone with graphite, trying to describe the highly reflective surface of the metal, trying to capture the highlights, the way it glows. She's focusing on the object and its presence. Maybe she's thinking about line and form. About how light travels across the curves. I imagine Duany squinting at the teapot, pencil in hand, gently coaxing the image into being. She builds up the tone with subtle gradations, layer upon layer. It's as if she's trying to capture not just the look of the teapot, but its very essence, its silent gleam. It reminds me of other artists, like Morandi, who spent their lives drawing the same bottles, over and over. It’s like they’re in conversation, across time and space, each exploring the endless possibilities of seeing.