Canvas fragment c. 20th century

Curator: We're looking at Barnett Newman's "Canvas Fragment," held at the Harvard Art Museums. It's a small, irregular piece, about 12 by 11 centimeters. Editor: It feels so vulnerable, almost like a forgotten scrap. What’s the story behind it? Curator: Well, this fragment makes us consider the support structure of painting itself. We confront the material and the means. Its labor is implicit. Editor: Right, it's like a whisper of what once was, maybe the start of something grand, or the remains of a failed experiment. Gives me a pang of artistic empathy. Curator: It’s interesting you say that, given Newman’s monumental works. This, in contrast, is raw materiality, stripped bare. Editor: Absolutely. It's the humblest beginning, a testament to the potential held within even the smallest of things. Curator: Precisely. Something so small embodies the massive enterprise of painting. Editor: I'll never look at a blank canvas the same way again.