working drawing for `Primrose Hill' 1968

Editor: This is Frank Auerbach's "working drawing for `Primrose Hill'" from 1968, rendered in graphite and pencil. It strikes me as both chaotic and contained; like an energy barely held in check. What compositional elements stand out to you? Curator: The linear structure dominates. Notice the divergent lines, how they thrust and intersect, creating a dynamic tension across the surface. The chromatic restraint – the limited palette – underscores the primacy of line as the structural basis. Observe how these elements, seemingly disparate, coalesce to form a landscape, of sorts. Editor: Yes, I see how the lines carve out a spatial framework, but the abstraction feels so forceful. The composition reminds me of an expressive style. Are you implying that the representation is secondary? Curator: Indeed. The image does not so much represent a landscape as perform the act of seeing itself. Note the energy imbued in each stroke, the physicality of the medium is at forefront. One must inquire: what is the relation between these marks and their referent? The location "Primrose Hill" acts as a mere departure. Editor: That's interesting. I hadn't considered how the drawing emphasizes the artistic process itself, rather than a literal depiction of the place. The materiality of the mark becomes the subject. Curator: Precisely. The ‘subject’ dissolves into a matrix of pure form. We are invited not merely to look at a picture, but to observe the intrinsic language of drawing. How do you respond to this radical move toward abstraction, in relation to representation? Editor: It reframes how I see landscapes, or any subject, in art. It's not just about what's depicted, but how the artist conveys their experience of it through form and material. It gives new consideration of the medium as the message itself. Curator: A fitting summary. We see that visuality hinges less on recognizable form and more on the very structural logic inherent within the work.