One Third of a Nation 1939

O. Louis Guglielmi made this painting, One Third of a Nation, with oil, and wow, it’s like a stage set, isn't it? I can see him building up each block of color, one on top of the other, improvising, then rethinking it all. I'm just imagining Guglielmi there, moving shapes around, trying to find some kind of feeling, and then having to cover it up, trying something else. He must have been thinking about the hard geometry of urban life, but also how to soften it, hence the delicate flowers. I find myself looking at the sky and that funny way the buildings' shadows fall, like something is not quite right. Yet those soft whites in the floral arrangements draw me in. It seems that there is a conversation happening between the harsh edges of the buildings and the softness of the flowers, like a dance. Thinking about him fumbling around, adding and subtracting, reminds me of the way all artists are constantly in conversation with each other across time and space. It’s about the push and pull, the constant searching.