Composition (The Cow) 1917

Curator: What a marvelous, melancholy mood. All that charcoal scratching! Editor: Indeed! This is Theo van Doesburg’s "Composition (The Cow)", dating back to 1917, and presently held here at MoMA. It exemplifies van Doesburg’s journey toward abstraction, a deliberate reduction of form. We see the influence of Cubism, his movement away from Realism towards a focus on fundamental form and line. Curator: It’s a deconstruction, really. The essence of “cow-ness”, peeled back layer by layer. You know, when you strip something bare like that, the raw vulnerability just screams. The dark and light are so dramatic. Editor: The social context of its creation is crucial here. The era was marked by war, immense social upheaval. The push toward abstraction by artists was, in part, a response to that, an attempt to find a universal visual language beyond nationalistic rhetoric. One could read the animal as representing some lost ideal, as though Doesburg found its abstraction to have been inevitable given society. Curator: Maybe... I get more of a sense of intimacy. Look at the tentative strokes, almost as if he’s caressing the animal with charcoal. Editor: I think, from a modern lens, it could even spark discussion around industrialized farming, where the animal's form is indeed abstracted. The linear deconstruction emphasizes its potential commodification within broader systems. Curator: Oh, that’s an interesting interpretation. So, the sharp, fragmented lines— are they constraint? Editor: They invite many interpretations, I think. Van Doesburg's drawing invites such discussion because, in its fragmented form, we can interpret modern tensions that permeate art history, feminist theory, and contemporary intersectional criticism. Curator: This piece… It is really alive, raw. Makes me think, what are we reducing now? And how do we pause before abstraction flattens our empathy. Editor: Ultimately, art can challenge the comfortable narratives of its time, while provoking discussions of a world which privileges the subjugation of women and non-binary peoples. It reveals possibilities beyond those confines, wouldn’t you agree? Curator: Absolutely! Here's to conversations that keep challenging us and reshaping our understanding! Editor: Cheers to that!