Untitled 1950

Editor: Here we have Joan Mitchell’s *Untitled*, created around 1950 using, it seems, impasto acrylics. The brushstrokes feel so vigorous. It feels like captured energy, doesn't it? What strikes you most about it? Curator: Energy indeed! It bursts from the canvas like a primal scream, wouldn't you say? I get this sense of...almost violent beauty, like a storm raging, or wildflowers battling the wind. Look at those assertive strokes of black wrestling with gentler grays and creams. I see the dialogue between constraint and utter freedom... doesn’t it give you the feeling of organized chaos? Editor: Organized chaos…I like that. So, it's not just random splatters? Curator: Oh, never, my dear. Remember, Mitchell deeply felt the pulse of landscape; even her most abstract work held echoes of it. This… this could be fields swaying, forests breathing…it is her *response* to nature’s fierce beauty, not a mere imitation. What feelings does it stir in you? Editor: Hmmm...now I can see it, more clearly! I guess at first it felt just like frantic movement. Knowing she channeled landscape makes it much richer. The way those colors play off one another gives it a visual musicality. Curator: Precisely. Color, line, form… a whole symphony striving to express what words simply fail to grasp! Consider this then – maybe, we all view our reality similarly to Mitchell, internalizing and then re-interpreting? Editor: Yes! I will consider, certainly! It’s incredible to see how much is held in this abstract expression, and how it changes, knowing more of Mitchell's view! Thank you! Curator: The pleasure’s all mine! Remember, darling, great art never answers; it only asks better questions!