Study for "Great America" c. 1994

Editor: We're looking at "Study for 'Great America'" by Kerry James Marshall, made around 1994. It's a drawing on paper, seemingly a preliminary sketch. It gives me a sort of… unresolved feeling? Like a story that’s just beginning. What catches your eye in this piece? Curator: You know, unresolved is a great way to describe it. Sketches often have that feeling, don't they? For me, it's the juxtaposition of that frantic energy in the linework with the apparent stillness of the figures. Look at how Marshall renders them—huddled together in the boat, yet somehow anonymous. Does that anonymity strike you as deliberate? Editor: Absolutely. There’s a universal quality, even though the "Great America" title hints at something specific. Almost like they represent a collective experience rather than individuals. Is he referencing something specific in American history or culture, do you think? Curator: I think he’s playing with ideas of movement, migration, perhaps even escape. And "Great America"... that title drips with irony, doesn't it? He invites us to question whose "America" is really being celebrated. Notice the sketchy lines that look like the wake, like remnants; the work seems to be more about an uncertain aftermath than a triumphant arrival. Editor: It’s funny, seeing it that way shifts my perspective completely. I initially thought about new beginnings, but the anonymity and rough style do suggest something far more complex and uneasy. Curator: Exactly. That's the beauty of a study like this, isn't it? It reveals the artist grappling with those complexities. It lets us in on the struggle to arrive at a fully formed idea, maybe even make our own suggestions and meanings. Editor: So, from a simple sketch, we get this potent sense of both personal struggle and collective anxiety. I’ll never look at a rough draft the same way again!