Untitled (Four Figures) 1951

Curator: What immediately strikes me about this work, Nicolas Carone's "Untitled (Four Figures)" from 1951, is its quiet austerity. Editor: Austerity is a great word for it. I see figures emerging from a muted, almost ghostly gray-white field. They're barely there, sketched with heavy, rapid strokes of what looks like oil paint. Curator: Exactly, the visible brushstrokes and layering of paint speak volumes. Carone, linked to Abstract Expressionism, emphasizes the materiality of paint. It isn’t just about representation. Look how the strokes themselves define form and space, it almost feels sculptural, pushing the boundaries of what constitutes painting versus three-dimensional art. Editor: And it places the act of painting, the performance, in the forefront. But considering its creation in 1951, the post-war context can’t be ignored. It evokes a sense of loss and anonymity typical of the period. This work fits into the broader movement of artists grappling with a world profoundly altered by conflict and technology. Curator: Absolutely. I think Carone also challenged established notions of skill and artistic labour, rejecting the hyper-polished styles promoted through academic institutions in the USA at the time. Editor: What you're describing gestures to an essential move for modernists, breaking down the boundaries separating the artist from their work and labor. Art shouldn't be separate from lived experience. It should reflect it, but more interestingly transform it. Curator: Which this piece accomplishes rather remarkably with its somber yet hopeful palette. This move created ripples in the canon of the period. Editor: I agree, observing Carone's figures is an evocative engagement into abstraction's formative power and capacity. The historical narratives give a rich insight to Carone's choices to his approach of Abstract Expressionism.