Descending Helix 1962

Reva Urban made Descending Helix with ink and paint probably in the mid twentieth century. I can imagine her slowly turning this painting around and around, searching for the right place for that big dark shape. There's such a feeling of weightiness. Those thick black strokes, they just dominate the whole composition. But there is this softness too, this gentle humor that comes from the white curving shapes. It reminds me of a cartoon, maybe something by Stuart Davis. But, look again, and you can see the struggle, the artist thinking through the work. What if I add an orange dash here or there? How about a brown line for support? It is as if Reva is in conversation with artists of the past, and the future, all at the same time. All that hard work and experimentation, it’s there for us to see in the finished work.