Study for "Ursine Park" 1943

Editor: Here we have Stuart Davis's "Study for 'Ursine Park'," a pencil sketch. I find the angular forms and handwritten notes incredibly intriguing. What exactly is he trying to work out here? Curator: Isn’t it wonderful? To me, it’s like peering into Davis's mind. The notes, the geometry – it’s all about the relationship between shapes, isn’t it? He's isolating a sequence, searching for the "X relation". He's always trying to distill the energy of the everyday into something purely visual. Editor: So it’s about capturing a feeling, not just a place? Curator: Exactly! It's about intuition, a snapshot of the artist thinking. What a privilege to witness that! Editor: It makes the finished painting seem less intimidating, more accessible, somehow. Curator: Precisely. It's the raw spark before the polished masterpiece.