Art Theory Text with Sketches 1949

Editor: This is Stuart Davis's "Art Theory Text with Sketches," a drawing on paper. The sketches feel very diagrammatic, almost like instructions. How do you read this piece? Curator: I see Davis engaging with the very act of making art. The text hints at artistic labor, the struggle to define 'art' itself. What materials, what processes, grant an object its status? Davis seems to challenge the separation of concept and execution. Editor: So, it's less about the final product and more about the means? Curator: Precisely. It makes you question where the value truly lies: in the labor, the materials, or the social context that defines it as "art." Editor: I never thought of it that way. Thanks for highlighting the role of the materials. Curator: My pleasure. Thinking materially can really open up an artwork.