Ceiling Decoration c. 1940

William Kieckhofel made this ‘Ceiling Decoration’ with watercolor and graphite, and it feels to me like looking up, craning your neck, trying to imagine the whole space that this snippet comes from. I wonder what it was like for the artist, probably on scaffolding, carefully mapping out the decoration with these gentle colours – pale pinks and blues, and these decisive graphite lines. There’s a sense of careful precision combined with a kind of delicacy here. It reminds me of some of the architectural drawings that are paintings in themselves, and that other artists have explored. The cracks in the pink arches have an organic quality like the veins of a leaf. And then there's that flourish of blue foliage on top, which seems to burst forth with a gentle, ornamental energy. Each small gesture, each delicate line, all add to the rich conversation that artists have been having for centuries.