Don Quixote 1952

Curator: Looking at David Smith’s “Don Quixote” from 1952, I'm struck by its restless energy. It's a linocut print, all sharp angles and heavy black ink—chaotic, almost. What do you make of it? Editor: Chaotic is a great word. But looking closely, the rough-hewn quality suggests a very physical, labored process. Linocut isn't exactly known for subtlety; it’s demanding, repetitive. I imagine Smith really wrestling with the material here. Curator: I feel like the abstraction hints at Don Quixote’s fractured mental state, lost in his own fantasies. The crude, bold strokes become visual metaphors for his misguided bravery, a distortion of reality. Does that make sense? Editor: Absolutely, the "means" here amplifies its thematic resonance! It wasn't like he was sitting at a desk drafting out sketches. No, with this type of labor, you commit directly to an image, carving it into the lino. One cut at a time... Curator: There's a raw immediacy to that. It makes me think of Smith, channeling Quixote's impetuousness, driven by his creative passions— perhaps jousting with the printmaking process itself? What you get as a result of labor are raw materials transformed through strenuous artistic efforts. Editor: And it matters where this image gets seen and distributed; the prints allowed him a relatively easy mode of production and circulation, bringing this character of quixote outside traditional artistic places. Curator: It seems to bridge abstraction and figuration; the mechanical looking bits resemble both cogs and organic matter intertwined, almost representing his conflict between dreaming and waking reality. Editor: Yes, a critical viewpoint to highlight that his creative endeavor is not without social context; the print makes Don Quixote, a product for us, within society. Curator: Exactly. Ultimately, it distills Don Quixote to something visceral and turbulent, a stark visual poem rather than a literal depiction. It stays with you, this raw emotion… Editor: The rawness sticks with you. Looking at Smith grapple with his own medium, you know what I mean? His actions give material shape to intangible cultural figures, bringing labor and historical icon together.