Yellow-blue Landscape 1916

Janos Mattis-Teutsch made this drawing with crayon, it's a party of yellow and blue, a high contrast, and playful space for mark-making. I love how the colors sit on the surface, not really blended, but layered in such a way that the texture of the paper still comes through. You can almost feel the tooth of the paper, grabbing at the crayon. The blue kind of hunches together, while the yellow reaches upwards. It's a back and forth, a push and pull, a kind of visual argument, maybe? Look at the way the strokes curve and bend, creating forms that are both abstract and recognizable. The yellow almost looks like it could be flowers, but they're not quite flowers. The blue looks like mountains maybe? But maybe not. Mattis-Teutsch's work reminds me a little bit of Kandinsky, but with a more earthy, hands-on feel. Like he just grabbed whatever was nearby and started making marks, trusting his intuition to lead the way.