Unidentified Study [verso] c. 1920 - 1940

This Joseph Stella drawing, made with pencil on paper, is like a whisper of an idea. It’s so sparse, so minimal; Stella is just trying to capture the essence of something, a feeling maybe. Look at the way the lines are tentative, searching. They don’t commit to any fixed form, but rather suggest a potential shape, a presence. It’s like watching the artist think, right there on the page. You can almost see the ghost of the artist’s hand moving across the paper, testing out different directions and possibilities. I love this kind of drawing. This piece reminds me of drawings by Cy Twombly. Both artists share a love of open ended gesture and a desire to make thinking visible. In the end, it's this freedom, this ambiguity, that makes art so exciting.