Sketch for "Politics"

In his preparatory sketch for Politics (TF 2008.1), John Storrs precisely details the lines and shapes he used in the final, painted version of the composition, noting the relative values of the colors for the painting by means of various densities of shading. Even the scattered dots on the light-colored central shape, the only seemingly casual element among the composition's sharply edged and carefully ordered forms, correspond almost completely with their placement in the painting. Storrs's methodical and deliberate creative process, surely influenced by the architectural practice of his father, is underscored by his precise dating of the sketch (in the European order of day-month-year) and his inscription of the dimensions of the canvas for the painted version, a forty-inch square, at the lower right.