Drawer Pull c. 1936

Janet Riza, who lived from 1855 to 1995, made this drawing of a drawer pull, but we don’t know exactly when. What we can say is that the drawing is a study of an everyday object, one that would have been mass-produced in the industrial era. The drawer pull itself, with its floral details, speaks to a sense of lingering tradition in design despite the possibilities of machine manufacture. The fact that the artist made a drawing of the drawer pull, rather than the drawer pull itself, suggests the rise of design as a discipline or a profession. Was Riza employed by a manufacturer, making models for their wares? Was she studying design in a school? If so, the history of this drawing would lead us into the social history of the art and design education system. We can only begin to understand this image by investigating its social and institutional context, consulting archives of manufacturers and design schools.