Maple Sugar Mold 1939

Walter Praefke made this watercolor painting of a maple sugar mold, but we don’t know exactly when. The warm brown palette, built up through layers of washes, makes me think about the slow, repetitive processes of craft and labor. I really love the way the color gathers and pools in the shadows of the objects. Look at the top mold, and the thick, dark line defining the lip of the bowl. It is built out of thin layers, but it gives the impression of weight. The artist’s hand seems really present, not just as a means of representation, but as a force enacting a kind of translation of an object from one medium into another. This is an image *of* something, but it’s also very much an image *as* something in its own right. I think that the work of someone like Charles Burchfield, with his interest in American vernacular objects and spiritual intensity, might be an interesting point of comparison. Ultimately, though, paintings like this remind us that art is not just about depicting the world, but about finding new ways to experience it.