Pewter Flagon 1935 - 1942

Charles Cullen made this drawing of a pewter flagon, we don't know exactly when, but probably in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. It's graphite on paper and it has this soft silvery grayness. I think about how he must have really looked at this thing, probably for a long time. It reminds me of Morandi and his bottles. Maybe it seems simple, but it's really all about seeing. I wonder if he liked the smoothness of the pewter, the way the light probably glinted off it. Look at how carefully he’s shaded the flagon, that subtle use of gray. It's like he’s trying to capture the essence of the object, not just its surface. And maybe he also thought about what that flagon meant, all the people who must have used it over the years. Painting is always a conversation, with yourself, with other painters, with the world, and with time.