Decanter c. 1937

Francis Law Durand made this drawing of a decanter sometime in the 20th century, using graphite. It's a fairly traditional subject, but there is something very contemporary about the almost scientific way the artist presents the object, as if it is a diagram. The graphite is applied in layers, building up tone slowly to suggest the translucence of the glass and the light as it hits the various geometric facets. There's real pleasure to be found in the almost obsessive mark-making that creates the decorative patterns on the decanter. I particularly like how the hatching on the base transforms into soft, blended areas that create a sense of volume in the main body of the vessel. This careful approach reminds me of the drawings of Jasper Johns, or even some of the photorealist painters from the 1960s and 70s. But here, the overall effect is less about precision and more about a kind of loving attention to detail. What does it mean to spend so much time looking at an everyday object?