Plate 15 1940 - 1943

Louie H. Ewing created this lithograph, Plate 15, sometime in the mid-twentieth century. It's a feast for the eyes through its clever use of pattern and color. It makes me think about how the act of art-making is really an act of problem-solving. Look at the textures and colors - that sandy ground, that soft pink. The interplay of these shades evokes a landscape. But it’s not really trying to be a landscape, right? The longer I look, the more I think about weaving. How the horizontal lines mimic threads pulled tight on a loom. I'm really interested in the imperfect quality of the printing. See how the colors don’t always line up perfectly within the zigzags? This isn’t just a surface decoration; it’s a whole visual language, much like the work of Anni Albers, where the grid becomes a space for improvisation and experimentation. Ultimately, this lithograph feels like an open-ended question, inviting us to consider the possibilities of abstraction, and the conversations that art has across time.