Teapot c. 1937

Ludmilla Calderon made this pencil drawing of a teapot, but its date is unknown. I love the way the teapot feels weighty, almost metallic, through Calderon's layering of graphite. Look how she's built up the shading, light to dark, to give it form. There's something deeply satisfying in the slow, deliberate process of drawing, of building up an image through patient accumulation. Notice the way the light seems to hit the front facets of the pot, and how the spout juts out, casting a shadow. The simplicity of the subject matter and Calderon’s technique reminds me of the quiet, everyday beauty that Giorgio Morandi captured in his still life paintings. But while Morandi seemed to work from memory, Calderon seems to be trying to work very hard to reproduce what is in front of her, adding a charming naivety to the piece.