Rockport House No. 2 c. 1929

This is "Rockport House No. 2," a drawing by Abraham Walkowitz. Here, the house looms against the landscape, and the looming shape of the house itself dominates the view, evoking a sense of both shelter and confinement. This archetype, the house, appears through time from ancient Roman domestic frescoes to more recent surrealist paintings. In each case, the house encapsulates a primal tension between safety and isolation, reflecting our deepest needs and anxieties. Consider the fence, a motif that has appeared across centuries, from ancient fortifications to garden walls. In Walkowitz’s rendering, the fence almost seems to want to protect, but it also isolates the inhabitants from the world, symbolizing both security and a barrier to freedom. Ultimately, this stark and simple image speaks to our subconscious understanding of home: a complex, cyclical symbol of protection and entrapment, comfort and fear, constantly evolving through the collective human experience.