With Heart of Stethoscope 1962

Reva Urban made this drawing, With Heart of Stethoscope, with what looks like graphite. She’s using mark-making to create these big, bold forms that intersect and overlap. You can really see the process in this piece, she’s not trying to hide how she built this image, it’s all there on the surface. The way the pencil drags across the paper, creating these striated textures, it’s like she’s sculpting with tone. Look at how she uses these layered strokes to define the edges of the shapes. It's like she’s thinking about the form in three dimensions, building it up with each mark. It reminds me of some of Franz Kline's more graphic, black-and-white paintings but here, Urban brings a softer touch to abstraction. There's a sense of vulnerability and openness in the way she handles the material. It's an invitation to slow down and really look, to see the world in a new way.