Untitled #5 (2-17-55) 1955

Myron Stout made this painting, Untitled #5, on February 17, 1955, and when I look at it, I feel like I’m seeing the world boiled down to its barest bones. The painting is a simple composition of black and white shapes. The dark background feels infinite. Two white forms, like soft stones, sit suspended in this inky space. Stout’s been economical with the paint, just enough to give a tactile sense of presence. You can see the brushstrokes pulling the pigment around the canvas like currents in water. I imagine Stout in his studio, wrestling with the void, trying to give shape to something inchoate. Maybe he was influenced by the starkness of Franz Kline or even the ancient calligraphic marks of Zen painting? Artists are always looking, borrowing, stealing from each other. This dialogue is a constant conversation across time. It’s like painting is an embodied expression of doubt, an embrace of ambiguity. Stout’s painting is a testament to the power of reduction and the beauty of simplicity, reminding us that sometimes, less really is more.