Art Theory Text with Diagrams 1951

Curator: We are looking at Stuart Davis' "Art Theory Text with Diagrams" from the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: This feels like a peek into the artist's mind, almost like a lab notebook. The repetitive mark-making has a meditative quality. Curator: Davis explores a system here, dividing areas into colors within an "A-Dimension," then defining those areas with pigment color in a "B-Dimension." He's dissecting how we perceive color, breaking it down into components. Editor: It’s about the process of seeing, isn’t it? The act of mapping, of using tools to understand and then recreate visual experience. The use of pen and paper grounds the high-minded theory. Curator: Exactly. It’s his way of understanding form and space. A blueprint for his modernist aesthetic. Editor: A fascinating glimpse into the nuts and bolts of Davis's artistic machinery.