Stepping Stone c. 1940

Edward DiGennero made this drawing, Stepping Stone, using graphite on paper. The soft rendering gives the stone and the horse a ghostly air. You could almost walk right through them! I imagine DiGennero, pencil in hand, carefully building up the tones, almost caressing the paper as he coaxes the image into being. I wonder what was going through his mind as he shaded in the quiet, watchful horse? The texture he’s created is incredible – it almost feels like you could reach out and touch the rough, porous surface of the stone. This piece is a testament to the quiet power of observation, how a simple subject can become imbued with meaning through the artist’s focused attention. It reminds me of the minimalist sculptures of that time but in two dimensions, the legacy of the concrete world. Artists have always learned from one another, in an ongoing conversation, each generation building upon the insights and discoveries of those who came before.