Suggested treatments of Auditorium for Theatre and Concert Hall, New York World’s Fair 1938

Winold Reiss made this suggestion for the New York World’s Fair, and looking at the layers of yellow, cream, and white wash over the surface I wonder what Reiss was thinking at the time. Did he start with the lightest hue and build up to the darker shades, or vice versa? I want to know, because it’s not only about color, it’s about the surface, and texture, and this push-and-pull quality to painting. It is so physical, like a dance on the canvas. The way the stripes curve and flow, like a warm river, makes me think of a rhythmic pulse – the ebb and flow of people gathering to experience a new world. These stripes, they feel like a memory, and the space they suggest is so dynamic, I see theater! I see music! I see a flow of bodies finding a home in this yellow structure. And what would it be like to see this come to life in a World’s Fair, and how many other artists did Reiss see at work at the time? I love that painting can be this embodied form, which embraces uncertainty, as well as inviting more ideas from other artists.