Coverlet (Blanket) c. 1936

Ralph Atkinson made this small coverlet, or blanket, sometime in the 20th century. It's not paint, but I immediately think about color and how it works. The reds and browns are muted, as if seen through a filter, and the blues sit somewhere between turquoise and a pastel. The pattern almost vibrates, and what's fascinating is the texture of it, built with tiny weaves that seem to add up to something bigger. There’s something almost optical about this—how the artist used the medium itself to create surface and depth. Look at that top right corner, where the red block meets a band of blue and white. It’s a riot of tiny movements, of stitches meeting and diverging. It reminds me of those early Sonia Delaunay textiles—the way she was thinking about color and rhythm through a domestic medium. The coverlet is a lovely reminder that art doesn’t have to be grand or imposing to be profound. Sometimes, it’s the small, everyday gestures that speak the loudest.