Conversation 1955

Ossip Zadkine made this print, called 'Conversation,' using shapes, color, and a kind of outlined flatness. I see a table, two figures, maybe in discussion or even debate—who knows! But I can imagine Zadkine, in the studio, moving around, trying this, then that. It's all angles and planes, like he's trying to build space from blocks of color, the table a long grey beam. The legs are odd, with a hint of red and yellow, like an afterthought. What does it mean? It could be a symbol, or just a formal touch. There's something playful about it. Zadkine doesn't want us to just see a conversation; he wants us to feel the push and pull of it, the different points of view, and the awkward angles of just trying to communicate. I think of other artists, like Picasso, or even Stuart Davis, also searching for that same feeling of space, pushing and pulling. Artists—we're always building on each other, having a visual conversation across time.