George Taylor - 2 Residences c. 1936

Meyer Goldbaum made “George Taylor - 2 Residences” in an unknown year, likely with watercolor and pencil. The drawing has a top-down view, creating a flattening of perspective that gives it a map-like quality. The way the colors are laid down feels both precise and tentative. Look at the soft grey used to describe the roofs of the buildings. It’s a lovely neutral that allows the greens of the landscape to really pop. The green is applied in thin layers, almost translucent in places, giving it a vibrant, airy quality. See the statue in the garden? There's something really charming about its naivete. It reminds me a little of some of the aerial perspective drawings of Forrest Bess, though Bess’s work is more abstract and psychologically charged. Both artists use a similar flattening of space to create a sense of otherworldliness. This piece, like much art, invites us to see the world in a new, unexpected way, embracing ambiguity.