Untitled 1980

This untitled drawing was made in 1950 by Seymour Lipton. It is a monochromatic world, just graphite on paper. Looking at this drawing, I imagine Lipton's hand moving across the paper, shifting from light touches to heavy hatching, trying to capture both form and shadow. What was he thinking? Maybe he was wrestling with a sculpture idea, trying to nail down the planes and volumes before committing to metal. I'm drawn to the way he renders the cylindrical forms, how the graphite suggests both roundness and the play of light across the surface. It reminds me of the drawings of Franz Kline. I feel like Lipton is in conversation with sculptors like David Smith, exchanging ideas across mediums, each pushing the boundaries of abstraction in their own way. For me, it's a reminder that art making is this ongoing exchange, a dialogue between artists across time.