Jack knew that artists didn’t just capture moments of real life. They invested in those moments with their willpower and their most personal selves. They found meaning, then guided their audiences to it. Jack felt like they were passing him a bright, undying torch. Sometimes he needed to stare for half an hour at the Herter Brothers’ mantelpiece for Thurlow Lodge. Its wood carving was beyond fine. It was incredible. He could follow the chisel work of the bones and sinews of the hounds taking down a wild boar as if the marks were moving under his eyes. The craftsmanship did more than remind him of the importance of depth, details, and patience in his work. It re-created a feeling of proud diligence within him. Other times, it was Scene in the Arctic that absorbed him. William Bradford’s painting showed a three-masted tall ship in the distance, stuck in the ice, completely isolated under a gray sky as impersonal as a judgment. The men on the ship weren’t visible, yet the impact of their story was heavy in the paint.
