Abstract Mississippi River

With this work, it is possible to see Stevens approach to abstraction. Essentially, he dissolves color and form into boldly patterned blocks that give a visual unity to the entire work, while isolating individual color fields... very much in the manner of Arshile Gorky and other abstract artists working in New York in the 1940s. The palette here is very subtle and differs greatly from the naturalistic work being executed in the same period.