Estabilidad en dos puntos (study) 

Carlos Merida made this drawing, Estabilidad en dos puntos, or Stability at Two Points, with colored pencil on paper. It's a study, as you can see from the title, and it gives us insight into how Merida was working at this stage of his career. Merida was Guatemalan, but this work reflects his deep engagement with the European avant-garde. The influence of Cubism and geometric abstraction is clear, but it's combined with a distinctly Latin American sensibility. He's evoking the indigenous cultures of the region, but doing so through a very modern visual language. Think about the cultural context of post-revolutionary Mexico and Guatemala in the early to mid-20th century. Artists were grappling with how to represent national identity and cultural heritage in a rapidly modernizing world. The institutions of art such as galleries and museums, were evolving in tandem with the rise of new art forms. Historians analyze sketches like this alongside Merida's finished works and writings, to understand better how those artistic and social forces come together.