Prayer 1945

Albert Urban made this print titled 'Prayer,' sometime before 1959 using what looks like stencils and a deeply considered color palette dominated by blues and grays. I can imagine him in the studio, laying down these shapes almost meditatively, then lifting them up again to see what new thing has been created. I wonder what was on his mind. What was he praying for when he made this? It almost feels like an internal landscape. Prayer isn’t just a plea; it's also reflection and communion. There are a lot of suggestions of figures here, and he’s thought a lot about their arrangement. There's the solid blue figure which appears to be bowing their head in prayer, and an adjacent figure lurking behind them. The relationships between the shapes create interesting tension. I imagine the artist making several versions of this piece, refining its design, its colors, and the interplay between its graphic shapes. Each layer brings new possibilities, new conversations, just like painting itself.