Before the arches met 1930

Curator: This drawing, titled "Before the arches met," was completed circa 1930 by Grace Cossington Smith. It appears to be rendered in pencil and possibly other drawing media. The composition immediately strikes one with its emphasis on geometric forms. Artist: Oh, wow! It feels like a paused moment, all raw energy. Like a big steel symphony just waiting for the conductor to drop his baton! I love how the incomplete arch looms, this almost arrogant curve reaching, but not quite. Curator: Indeed. Note how Smith uses the skeletal structure of the bridge to create a dynamic interplay of lines and angles. The unfinished arch dictates the composition, offering an investigation into form. The perspective and depth of the image plane become almost secondary. Artist: You see math, I see guts! Look at those crane-creatures perched on top! They seem almost fragile against that massive, powerful steel skeleton, like worker ants scurrying all over a mechanical titan. Curator: The artist’s employment of light is intriguing, even playful. She segments colour planes which, in turn, articulate surface area in this aqueous construction-site locale. And if you track the movement from left to right, she seemingly reifies a sense of industrial progression. Artist: I just adore how Smith captures this intense in-between. Not finished, but brimming with the promise of completion. It almost vibrates with anticipation! Curator: Well said, actually. There's an undeniable tension created by the incompleteness. The artist isn’t documenting; she's inviting us to participate in a visual calculus of form. Artist: I reckon it speaks volumes about that can-do, let's-build-the-future vibe of the time, huh? Even now, this incomplete image stirs something deep inside. Curator: Yes, a successful negotiation between structural elements and expressive intent. The result allows one to engage not only the scene depicted but with formal devices of modernist theory itself. Artist: Totally! So much to love, just waiting here between pencil strokes! Curator: Indeed, an elegant summation of modernity’s ambition using sparse construction and visual daring.