Stove Urn c. 1939

This drawing shows an urn, and was made by Milton Grubstein with graphite on paper. I can imagine Grubstein spending a lot of time rendering the tonality just so. Maybe he sat with the urn and got to know it, inside and out. The medium of graphite, and the time taken, feel really important here. It makes me think of Morandi who would depict the same bottles over and over. He must have felt like he was conversing with them. There’s a lot of gentle shading. Look at the small leafy flourish he has added to the base and lid, it seems as though his hand knew just where to go. What would it be like to feel so close to an object? It makes me want to get my hands on some charcoal right now and see what happens!