Composition IV 1916

Patrick Henry Bruce made this painting, Composition IV, and I’m really seeing this as a kind of excavation of form. It’s like he's digging into shapes, one stroke at a time. There's a real physicality to how the paint is applied, thick in some areas, almost scratched on in others, which gives the whole thing a kind of restless energy. I keep coming back to that pink circle, surrounded by all these jagged edges. It's this soft, vulnerable spot amidst all the hard lines, like a bruise, but also kinda soothing. This piece feels like the missing link between the early cubism of someone like Picasso and the later work of artists like Stuart Davis, where abstraction becomes a playground for pure color and form, a dance of shapes that never quite settles down. It’s an artwork that keeps you guessing, always finding something new in its chaotic beauty.