Design proposals for Puck Theater, New York, NY.] [Interior perspective study 1941

Editor: Here we have Winold Reiss's 1941 "Design proposals for Puck Theater, New York, NY," an interior perspective painting that looks like a dreamy Art Deco theatre. I'm really drawn to the use of color blocking; it’s almost meditative. What's your take? Curator: Oh, dreamy indeed! It's as though Reiss captured the very essence of anticipation before a show. That vibrant peach against the royal blue…it's a feast for the eyes. I see more than just color, though. It whispers of an era, a time of jazz and soaring aspirations. The symmetry almost feels like a stage set itself, doesn’t it? Like we are watching the potential for the show to come. Editor: Absolutely. The concentric circles on the ceiling really give it a sense of depth, too. I’m getting Wes Anderson vibes, a little! Curator: I love that. It is a pre-show mood, a pause before the grand spectacle of… everything. Editor: I guess I was seeing the space in a simpler way than what it really is – more than geometry at play, it’s emotion, too. Curator: It often happens with designs like this… a painting holding future hopes in abstract form. We find more than shapes and colors, we find stories of human energy wanting to take form! What is especially powerful here, that I didn't realize before you talked about emotion, is that these colors might symbolize the artist's feelings of being energized from wanting to go to see a show... What did you discover? Editor: That even 'simpler' designs hold such stories.