Rush Light and Candle Holder c. 1938

Curator: This subtle graphite drawing from around 1938 is titled "Rush Light and Candle Holder" by Filippo Porreca. What’s your immediate take on it? Editor: It feels utilitarian yet has these whimsical curls, like a blacksmith decided to have a bit of fun. There's something almost cartoonish in the simplification of the form. Curator: Interesting, because functionally, rush lights, which used the pith of rushes soaked in fat, were a common and affordable source of light for the working class. Pairing it with a candle suggests a bridging of social classes, perhaps reflected in that very tension between practicality and flourish you observed. The imagery would have held associations of the domestic sphere for the 1930s audience, referencing a traditional lifestyle amidst rapid industrial changes. Editor: Ah, so even the geometric base suggests solidity, tradition. While the curls hint at something…aspirational? Light has always been powerfully symbolic. Is Porreca making a commentary on aspiration, illumination both literal and intellectual? The candle and the rush light both chase away the dark, ignorance, but one clearly burns brighter, longer, cleaner... Curator: Precisely, and recall the social and political atmosphere of the late 1930s—a period of economic hardship following the Depression, right before the Second World War broke out. A simple, domestic subject like this also represented stability. It certainly can be interpreted as a metaphor of "light" or knowledge cutting through hardship. It grounds that more abstract intellectual metaphor in the everyday. Editor: Looking at it that way, it speaks of enduring spirit, the will to keep alight both basic necessity and perhaps even more elegant aspirations even when times are hard. The way the pencil rendering softens the metal, too, there is a yearning, softening effect there also. Curator: Agreed. The object’s simple structure, replicated in soft graphite, mirrors that human capacity to find moments of optimism and hope. A beautiful statement using the most humble materials, both the holder itself and Porreca's drawing tools. Editor: I think, by lingering on such an unpretentious, unassuming item, we almost participate in Porreca’s act of giving dignity to the overlooked. It’s been a rewarding, illuminative look.