Generation 1914

Stanton Macdonald-Wright made "Generation" with watercolor, a medium that practically begs for layering and transparency. I find this piece so interesting because it’s like watching a painting come into being right before my eyes. The watercolor washes aren’t trying to hide anything; they let the process be the point. Look at the way the colors build up, one stroke at a time. The texture isn't about thick impasto, but it's more about the character of the paper showing through. I’m drawn to the area where the yellow bursts open, like a sun. It radiates, and I can almost feel the artist making quick, deliberate marks around it with their brush. Macdonald-Wright was super into color theory, which you can see in his wider body of work, and this piece reminds me a bit of Kandinsky's early abstractions. It's like they're both trying to figure out how color can be its own language. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t always need to spell things out. Sometimes, it's just about feeling.