Highball 1945

Edwin Fulwider made "Highball," sometime in the 20th century, and it looks like a print. There's a real simplicity in the forms here, a kind of flattening that turns everything into shapes. I mean, look at the way he's handled the steam – it's almost like a geometric puzzle. The colors are so interesting, too. That red! It's not just red, it's got this vibrant, almost playful quality that keeps the whole thing from being too serious. I keep coming back to the figure hanging off the train. The dark silhouette against the bright red is so striking. It's a moment of action frozen in time, a little narrative tucked into this bigger picture of industry and movement. Fulwider’s approach reminds me a bit of Stuart Davis, how he took everyday subjects and turned them into these dynamic compositions. There's this sense of optimism, a kind of celebration of the modern world, that just pulls you in.