Wall Clock c. 1938

Editor: This coloured pencil drawing from around 1938, titled "Wall Clock," is by Isadore Goldberg. The clock has such detail to it, what's striking is how meticulously it's rendered with coloured pencil, giving this everyday object a sense of importance. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Well, considering the time this piece was made, and its subject, a functional domestic object, it’s easy to view it as an exercise in celebrating American craftsmanship during a period of economic recovery after the Great Depression. Images like these, often commissioned by the WPA, aimed to instill national pride and document everyday American life. Have you considered how this drawing participates in that visual record? Editor: I hadn’t thought of that context, but it makes sense. I guess I was viewing the artwork purely aesthetically at first. Did the choice of the object influence anything as well, such as by promoting more American buying and manufacturing? Curator: Exactly! Think about how representing the clock becomes a symbol for values. The clock itself, in addition to reflecting efficiency, perhaps also underscores ideas of the American domestic sphere during that time, as the public sought out idealized images in a turbulent climate. It's also worth noting how the artwork showcases an ideal of home and stability, and prompts the viewer to want it as a real life symbol. What do you think? Editor: Now that you've given it context like that, it feels less like just a drawing of a clock and more of a national symbol. Curator: And isn't it interesting how something as simple as the choice of subject and medium can tell us so much about the society it comes from? That’s where art history reveals a powerful social function in what otherwise is considered to be, perhaps, ‘merely decorative’. Editor: This makes me rethink everything I thought I knew about seeing and experiencing art, it feels so exciting.