Art Theory Text with Scribbles 1951

Curator: The stream-of-consciousness text piece, “Art Theory Text with Scribbles” by Stuart Davis, feels like a glimpse into the artist's mind. What strikes you about it? Editor: It seems almost like a manifesto, a personal rejection of rigid definitions in art. I'm curious about the relationship between these scribbled thoughts and the wider art world at the time. Curator: Exactly. Davis was working in a period heavily influenced by abstract expressionism and its search for authenticity. How might this written piece reflect, or even challenge, those prevailing notions of artistic expression and the role of theory? Editor: Perhaps it's about embracing ambiguity, pushing against the pressure to define art so precisely. It shows the influence of writing on the Abstract Expressionist aesthetic, and a need to scribble it out. Thanks, I hadn't considered it that way. Curator: It’s about understanding the socio-political moment, and how it shaped what artists felt compelled to create, and destroy.