John Feeney 1925

Editor: This is Denman Waldo Ross’s "John Feeney," a black lead on laid paper sketch. It feels very…methodical, almost like an exercise, with the scales of value included. What do you make of it? Curator: It does, doesn't it? I’m immediately drawn to the geometry at play; the subject framed within those precise angles. It’s as if Ross is dissecting the very act of seeing, reducing a face to lines and tonal relationships. Doesn't it make you wonder about the relationship between the artist and his subject? Editor: Definitely! It’s like he's not just drawing a person, but deconstructing how we perceive them. So much more to it than just a sketch. Curator: Exactly! And perhaps that's the point – to see beyond the surface, to find the underlying structure of beauty itself.