New York c. 1915

Abraham Walkowitz made this painting called New York, with brush and ink on paper. Look at how the ink pools and spreads on the page. What kind of brush do you think he used? I’m trying to imagine being him, quickly and deftly making marks, trying to capture the feeling of the city. There’s a sense of urgency and rhythm, isn’t there? The light colored paper creates a stark contrast to the dark ink, and it almost feels like a memory, something fleeting and wistful. What’s interesting is how the whole painting is built of smaller brushstrokes which coalesce into larger shapes. Walkowitz is part of an ongoing conversation between painters. He's inspired by the city but also by those that came before him, experimenting with abstraction like the cubists did. It’s all a part of the history of how we see and interpret the world.