Studies of New York Coliseum, Columbus Circle, Convention Center.] [Color study perspective 1950

Winold Reiss made this color study perspective of the New York Coliseum with graphite and colored pencil. Right away I notice how the perspective lines are so important in guiding the eye through the composition, and how these lines are also areas of intense color. This feels very process-oriented, like Reiss is thinking through the possibilities of the space as he is drawing. You can really see the materiality of the graphite and pencil. The dark areas are built up through layers of hatching, and the colored pencil feels almost powdery. I love how the rainbow pillars disrupt the starkness of the dark horizontal planes and cast these strange color shadows, suggesting a kind of psychedelic space. There's an ambiguity about whether this is an interior or exterior space. It makes me think a bit of the architectural drawings of Paul Klee. Like Klee, Reiss seems interested in using color and line to create a kind of playful, dreamlike world. Ultimately, this drawing is about embracing experimentation and open-endedness, and understanding art as a conversation across time.