Untitled c. 1950s

This Untitled drawing was made by Ralston Crawford, though we don't know exactly when. Crawford's embraced angular lines in this piece, which feels kind of like a dance of geometry. I can almost see him sketching, line by line, trying to find the essence of a structure, maybe something industrial. There's a sparseness here, yet it feels complete. Those crisscrossed lines make me think of fences or nets, creating a sense of enclosure, but also openness. Looking at this, I wonder what Crawford was thinking about. Was he trying to capture the bare bones of form, stripping away the excess? I think of other artists like Mondrian, and the way they broke things down to their most basic elements. It's like they're saying, "Here's what's left when you take everything else away." Artists are always riffing off each other, aren't they? It's a constant exchange of ideas across time. And that's what makes painting so cool – it's always changing, always questioning.