Untitled (Abstraction with Head and Mills College) 1933

This print by Sidney Joseph, titled "Abstraction with Head and Mills College," is a dance of light and shadow rendered in stark blacks against a tan background. I imagine Joseph, armed with his tools, carving into a block, each incision a decision, a feeling made solid. You know, there’s a bravery to that commitment – once it’s gone, it’s gone. The way the head emerges from geometric shapes, it feels like Joseph is trying to understand something about the subject, about vision itself. The connection to Mills College gives it a groundedness, like he was looking out a window, trying to capture what he saw in a new way. It makes me think about the process of translation – taking something real and turning it into something else, something felt. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, responding to the world and each other’s work. This piece reminds me that painting, like any art form, is a way of thinking, questioning, and making sense of the world.