Study for “Report from Rockportâ€?(recto and verso) 1940

Curator: Before us is Stuart Davis’s "Study for 'Report from Rockport' (recto and verso)." It’s a sketch, seemingly simple at first glance. Editor: Stark simplicity! The raw materiality of the paper and graphite lend a feeling of immediacy to his process. Curator: Precisely. Note how Davis reduces the landscape to basic geometric forms, lines intersecting to create a structured composition. He is dissecting visual reality into its fundamental elements. Editor: Yet it feels unfinished, revealing the labor and thought behind the finished piece. You almost see him puzzling over how to translate the real into abstraction, the materiality of Rockport. Curator: Indeed. Davis seems to be searching for the underlying structure. The handwritten notes at the upper right appear to reflect this ongoing thought process. Editor: "The color form meaning of the material observed in quanta sequences". Fascinating how he grapples with capturing essence. Curator: A window into his mind. Editor: A potent reminder of the physicality of art creation.