Oboe Players c. 1936 - 1939

Editor: This is William Roberts' drawing, Oboe Players. It's a pencil sketch, and I find the figures oddly stiff. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Notice how the grid underlays the entire composition. It's a symbol of order, perhaps imposed on the musicians and their environment. Does the music they create break free from this rigid structure, or is it equally constrained? Editor: That's fascinating! I hadn't considered the grid as a symbol itself. Curator: Consider also the window behind them: are those bars? Or merely the winter branches of a tree? These symbols hint at confinement, but also a reaching toward something beyond. Editor: The symbolism makes it much more compelling. Thanks for pointing those things out.