Art Theory Text with Standard Configuration Diagram 1942

Curator: This is Stuart Davis’s "Art Theory Text with Standard Configuration Diagram." The medium appears to be ink on paper. Editor: It feels like a page torn from a notebook, or perhaps a personal manifesto, filled with cryptic musings. Curator: The text highlights Davis’s ambition to create a visual language, a standard for evaluating art, rooted in objective spatial characteristics. The diagram becomes a template. Editor: The square bisected by lines is so simple, almost primal. It’s a symbol of order, division, maybe even a quest for the ideal form. One wonders what he intended to communicate with such minimal imagery. Curator: I'm fascinated by how this diagram could be a foundational tool for Davis's compositional process. The materiality of ink and paper, a simple means to outline complex ideas. Editor: It's compelling to see how Davis sought universal principles within art, echoed by the diagram itself and the written word. A unified, holistic approach. Curator: Indeed, this sketch acts as a testament to Davis's rigorous artistic method. Editor: It leaves one pondering the quest for universality in art, represented in simple geometric terms.