Cross and Chain c. 1937

Curator: We’re looking at a watercolor and ink drawing from around 1937 entitled “Cross and Chain.” The image features, quite literally, a cross pendant hanging from a chain. Editor: It strikes me as incredibly austere, almost solemn. The contrast of the dark cross against that pale, barely-there background evokes a sense of isolation. The meticulously rendered chain, though...that gives me a feeling of entrapment. Curator: Entrapment? Tell me more. Editor: The cross itself is rigidly geometric, the gold embellishments offering very little softness. The gold chain, precisely looped, is beautifully rendered...but that repetition makes me restless. I immediately start thinking of rosaries, a feeling of constrained spirituality. Curator: It’s interesting you picked up on that feeling, considering the work's style employs stark linearity which echoes earlier artistic movements like precisionism and some of the diagrammatic works that came out of the Bauhaus school. Editor: Linearity, absolutely. The crisp edges almost seem mechanically rendered, a stark contrast to the watercolor, which you expect would soften it. And there's so much empty space on the page. A lot of religious art makes heavy use of decorative ornament; the sparseness here denies us that opulence. Curator: Indeed. The artist seems to be using familiar imagery while pushing into an abstracted sensibility. Consider that even the shadows on the cross are delineated with these clear, dark strokes, reducing any illusionistic tendencies. Editor: It does, doesn't it? And I keep returning to the gold against that deep charcoal, like glimmers of hope amidst despair. Curator: The work almost acts as a symbolic meditation of sorts; it offers familiar images, yet its stylistic treatment provides the artwork a uniquely unsettling emotional presence. Editor: Absolutely, you can feel that tension held on the page between faith and...is it doubt, perhaps? Regardless, this piece manages to ask a question without answering. That in itself feels pretty profound.