Untitled (34-8) 1934

Balcomb Greene made this untitled collage most likely from paper and card. It looks like a painter feeling his way into abstraction, cutting out shapes, letting the process lead. I like how the muted palette of greys, greens, and browns creates a calm atmosphere, but then you get these flashes of fuchsia that pull you in. It’s like a quiet conversation with sudden bursts of excitement. There’s this area, bottom left, with what looks like fragments of text and printed imagery, half-buried under layers. These bits of text act as little clues, inviting you to piece together a narrative. You can sense Greene’s interest in the materiality of the work, in how the textures and colors interact. Greene was part of the Abstract Expressionist movement, and you can see that spirit here. It reminds me a little of Kurt Schwitters and his collages, both finding beauty in the everyday, in the discarded. It’s a reminder that art is always in conversation, building on what came before.