Inventing Each Conversation

With which of her precursors will the artist who is a woman converse? The paintings of Mondrian, Vermeer, and Stuart Davis have spoken to me about counterpoint, perhaps more clearly than any others. These are elaborate structures of intertwining melodies with no extraneous notes. No matter how few or many elements in the painting, new connections reveal themselves. These artists are men who, through their paintings, have had visions of masculine and feminine conversations that have shed some of the stereotypes.

In many ways “men’s” art is human art, but to the extent that tradition imposes hierarchy and stereotype on its voices, it could be said that our culture’s art is less than fully human. In that case, our tradition is less potent a voice for any artist, man or woman, who prefers conversation to conquering. The problem is beyond the forms needed for men’s or women’s experience. Counterpoint is a vision of a common ground between men and women that has not been so deeply explored by either sex. Up to now, men have had a voice, however uncontrapuntal. Some people want a voice in tradition with which they can converse in a more interesting fashion.