Designs for Shellball Apartments, 8300 Talbot St. at Lefferts Blvd., Kew Gardens, New York, NY.] [Perspective drawing of lobby 1928

Winold Reiss made this perspective drawing of a lobby for Shellball Apartments in 1933, using pencil and crayon. The materials are unassuming, but the design…well, it has a certain pizazz, doesn’t it? I’m drawn to the way the colours don't quite line up. There are black shapes that bleed into the cream of the floor. The walls are a cool, minty green, but Reiss seems to have allowed himself to scumble the crayon, so it has a handmade feeling. And, I see a real tension between the strict geometry of the Art Deco design, and the casualness of the mark making. Look at the ceiling in the back. It's so elaborate, but the lines are wobbly, like he did it freehand. The whole thing has a kind of optimistic, amateur quality that I find really endearing. I see this as a close cousin to Stuart Davis's work, with its flattened space and bold geometry. Both artists were interested in capturing the dynamism of modern life, but in their own quirky ways.