Untitled 1946

Editor: This is an Untitled mixed-media drawing and painting by Ad Reinhardt from 1946. It has this… restless feeling with all of the colliding geometric shapes. I’m curious, what stands out to you about it? Curator: I’m drawn to how Reinhardt challenges the boundaries between painting and drawing here. It forces us to consider the physical properties of each material. Notice the layered strokes: how do the different weights of paint versus drawing materials contribute to the overall effect? How does this interplay undermine conventional hierarchies? Editor: So, by mixing them he's pushing against what's considered "high" art versus just sketching, like making them equal? Curator: Precisely! And further, consider the implications of ‘abstraction’ in 1946, post-war. How did this type of production offer avenues of expression when representational forms were deemed insufficient, potentially implicated in the ideologies that led to the war? It’s more than just lines and color, isn’t it? Editor: That's interesting. I hadn’t thought about the weight of representation. I see how using just form could be a reaction to…everything. What about the materials themselves, were they typical? Curator: I'd argue that is exactly the point! Looking closely at the pigments themselves, the types of brushes and paper, they weren’t necessarily expensive. By focusing on common materials Reinhardt might be commenting on art's accessibility. Can artwork truly be egalitarian? Editor: This definitely gives me a lot to think about regarding art making and its role, especially in connecting materials to the time it was made. Curator: Exactly. We move past the “what” of representation and deep into the “how” and “why.”