26 Dec '62 (no. 5) 1962

Anne Truitt made this monochromatic painting, 26 Dec '62 (no. 5), on paper, one day after Christmas. It’s a dense black rectangle on an off-white ground, so I can imagine her, brush in hand, layering the paint to make this huge block of color, testing out the limits of the medium. I feel a sense of quiet determination in this work, like she's trying to distill something essential about form and presence. Look at the sharp edges of the rectangle, the way they define the space around them, and also the little white gap. That gap might be a mistake, or perhaps a deliberate choice. The thickness of the paint gives the surface a tactile quality, as if you could reach out and feel the weight of the color. Truitt was in conversation with other painters, maybe Agnes Martin and Barnett Newman, and was experimenting with how minimal forms can evoke complex emotions and ideas. Her exploration of color and space is still relevant today, reminding us that painting is an ongoing dialogue, full of questions and possibilities.