Art Theory Text with Space Division Diagram 1941

Curator: Here we have Stuart Davis's "Art Theory Text with Space Division Diagram," a piece currently held in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It looks like a page from a notebook, really. Very direct, almost like a manifesto of simple shapes and concepts. Curator: Davis was deeply interested in the relationship between abstraction and the everyday, and this diagram demonstrates his formal analysis. How do lines divide space? How do we perceive depth and meaning? Editor: Note how he reduces pictorial space to the most basic elements. He writes that meaning is a "Horizon." It’s a very sparse composition. Curator: Davis was exploring how American art could forge its own identity, distinct from European traditions, by embracing its own visual vocabulary. Editor: It's fascinating how he blends the analytical with the intuitive—a diagram trying to capture something fundamentally un-diagrammable. Curator: Indeed. It reveals the artist’s deep intellectual engagement. Editor: It does make you think about how the most basic forms can hold infinite potential.