Reflections on Copper Pots

Working at a time when the avant-garde was moving steadily toward innovative abstraction, Claude Joseph Bail preserved a popular, traditional Realism that referenced old masters such as Jean-Siméon Chardin. Inspired by daily life in Bail's country home, this chalk study is for a painting exhibited at the Salon of 1900. The artist worked out his entire composition in this small drawing, paying careful attention to gradations of dark and light and to the reflections on the shiny copper surfaces.