Plate 15: The Creation (Lunette): From Portfolio "Spanish Colonial Designs of New Mexico" 1935 - 1942

This vibrant watercolor, Plate 15: The Creation, is from an anonymous portfolio called "Spanish Colonial Designs of New Mexico". You know, the more I look at it, the more I feel like the artist was thinking about framing architecture, playing with form, and thinking about new ways of seeing the world. It’s as if they're in a conversation with the built environment. The angel with its pointing finger and open palms kneeling within a lunette is so interesting. What do you think he's pointing at, I wonder? Maybe it's something that the artist is about to create on the ground, or in the world? The colors are what draw me in—red, blues, browns and beiges all dancing together. You can sense the movement and gesture of the hand in the creation of each line. The piece is playful, like a study, almost like the artist is playing with how the lines and shapes come into being, but I feel the artist is trying to bring forward the ways we create, and what that really means.