Silver Plate Bread Basket c. 1937

Chris Makrenos made this drawing of a silver plate bread basket sometime in the twentieth century, using watercolor and graphite on paper. The basket itself is rendered with delicate washes, like a memory of silver rather than the thing itself. The graphite is reserved for the botanical illustration and tiny pearl-like beads along the rim of the basket. It’s interesting to see how Makrenos uses these different modes of depiction. Look at the handle, for example, where the graphite and watercolor seem to be fighting for dominance, one trying to outline and contain the other. That push and pull feels very contemporary. It reminds me of Elizabeth Murray's playfulness with form and function, and how she also blurred the boundaries between the abstract and the representational. Ultimately, it’s these kinds of tensions that keep us looking, questioning, and finding new meanings in art.