Composition 1909

Curator: This intriguing artwork is entitled "Composition," created in 1909 by Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis. It's rendered in charcoal, ink, and what appears to be drawing on paper. My first thought—it looks like a world between dream and waking. What do you think? Editor: A bit desolate, almost harsh in its materiality. All that charcoal…I’m immediately drawn to the processes involved—the labor, the layers, the physical act of pressing charcoal onto the paper. It looks quite raw, despite the symbolic elements. Curator: Rawness is definitely a quality. Ciurlionis blended musical structures with visual arts. Look at the repeating shapes and forms, especially in the mountainous landscape and even within the feathers of the bird soaring overhead. There's a definite rhythm. I'm reminded of the feeling of music flowing from my hands when playing the piano, pure sensation transformed. Editor: Interesting comparison. Those repeated motifs do provide structure. And the landscape feels fabricated, worked… the hatched lines, particularly the ways in which the lower section shows carved inscriptions, create a sense of deliberate making. I wonder who made the paper itself? Was it handmade? It's important to think about the whole context of creation, beyond the artist. Curator: I suppose. It evokes something beyond its literal components for me—the small human figure in the foreground gazing upwards... what is he looking at, or longing for? The composition breathes a story of spiritual aspiration—or perhaps acceptance. There's such depth created by the monochrome, leading my imagination. Editor: Indeed. Monochrome really spotlights the gradations of tone and how reliant Ciurlionis was on the intrinsic qualities of the materials themselves— the texture of the paper, the density of the charcoal. I bet different charcoals yielded different blacks, all with varying manufacturing processes. Curator: He definitely wrings profound feeling from basic materials. Ultimately it conveys how inner states shape our realities, a reflection of internal symphonies visualized. Editor: It is compelling. Thinking about the consumption and availability of the ink and charcoal adds depth for me. Curator: A beautiful convergence of earthly means and transcendent longings, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: Exactly. It’s an exploration of the artistic hand through material, I'm satisfied.