Color Circle Diagram 1938

Editor: This is Stuart Davis's "Color Circle Diagram." It's undated, but it's a pencil sketch showing color relationships. It feels like a very pragmatic exercise, but what else do you see in it? Curator: I see Davis grappling with color not just as a visual element but as a system deeply embedded in social and political meaning. How do we reconcile the scientific approach here with color's inherently subjective and cultural role? Consider how certain colors are historically gendered or associated with specific political movements. Editor: So, beyond just being a study, it's an exploration of how we perceive and understand the world through color? Curator: Exactly. It encourages us to question how systems of organization, like color wheels, reinforce or challenge existing power structures and ingrained biases. Editor: I hadn’t considered how even something as seemingly objective as a color wheel can be culturally loaded. Curator: Precisely. And that awareness is the first step to dismantling those biases.