Picturial Architecture 1922

Lajos Kassak made this "Pictorial Architecture" painting with oil on canvas, and what strikes me first is how carefully he's laid down each block of colour. You can see the texture of the canvas coming through, which gives it a grounded, handmade feel. I keep coming back to the big blue curve. It sits behind all these rectangular shapes, like a sky behind buildings. It anchors the painting and hints at something beyond the immediate. It's a really confident move. Kassak’s got me thinking about how we build structures, both in art and in life. The push and pull between flat shapes and implied depth, it all reminds me a bit of some of Stuart Davis' jazzy cityscapes. It's like they're both riffing on similar ideas, each in their own way. And isn't that what art is all about, a big conversation across time?