Inkwell c. 1936

John Fisk made this drawing of an inkwell, though we don’t know exactly when, using what looks like graphite and maybe a little watercolor. It feels so precise, this object floating in a sea of paper. I imagine Fisk hunched over a table, squinting slightly, really looking at the thing, trying to understand how the light hits and makes a shadow. He’s mapping out the textures and the tiny shifts from dark to light. I wonder, what was it like to hold the inkwell in his hand? Did he turn it over and over, feeling the weight of it? The drawing feels like an act of care, of really seeing and understanding. I love the way it makes me slow down and notice the simple beauty of this everyday object. It makes me think of Morandi, who also spent his life drawing humble objects like bottles and jars. There’s a deep conversation happening across time between artists, a sharing of vision.