Arrow Diagram 1940

Editor: This is Stuart Davis's "Arrow Diagram," and it appears to be from 1940, judging by the inscription. It's simply lines and arrows, almost like a technical drawing, yet there's a handwritten phrase: "A Line is an Open Place." How do you interpret this interplay between the geometric and the poetic? Curator: Given Davis’s interest in American scenes and the socio-political climate of the 1940s, consider how diagrams were becoming prevalent in urban planning and governmental organization. Does the phrase perhaps suggest a tension between rigid structures and the potential for individual agency within them? Editor: That's interesting. So, he might be commenting on the increasing control of society through these structures, but suggesting there's still room for freedom? Curator: Precisely. Davis often engaged with the “politics of imagery,” critiquing or celebrating the relationship between public life and art. A simple arrow can point to many things, can't it? Editor: I hadn't considered it in that light. Thanks for shedding light on the social context.