Untitled 1968

This untitled artwork was made by Marcelle Cahn in 1968. It looks like an arrangement of basic shapes, like a child’s building blocks, but more mysterious and knowing. I can imagine her placing these shapes on the gridded background, shifting them around, trying out different arrangements until something clicked. There's a playfulness here, but also a deep consideration of form and color. The black circles feel like eyes, or maybe voids, watching the interaction of the other shapes. What do you see in the relations between the yellow, red, blue, and green rectangles? The grid gives it structure, a kind of underlying order, but the shapes themselves are off-kilter, creating tension and dynamism. It reminds me a bit of Mondrian, but with a lighter touch. It is as if Kahn is inviting us to play with the possibilities of abstraction, to find our own meanings in the relationships between form, color, and space. I think artists are always talking to each other, across time, in a visual language that transcends words.