First Avenue #1 1954

Ralston Crawford made First Avenue #1 with lithographic ink on paper. I imagine Crawford walking around somewhere, looking at the city, seeing shapes in the urban landscape, the sharp angles and planes catching his eye. Then later, back in the studio, he’s conjuring that scene, simplifying it, finding the underlying geometry. Look how he balances those heavy black forms with delicate lines and gridded textures. You can almost feel the artist working, making choices, adjusting the composition, pushing and pulling until it all locks into place. The way he layers those geometric shapes, it's like he's building a new kind of space, one that's both familiar and totally strange. It reminds me a little of other artists like Stuart Davis, who were also trying to capture the energy of modern life through abstraction. It’s a real conversation, a back and forth between artists across time. And that conversation, it’s still going on today.