Curatorial Narrative “Setting ’em off” by Frank Arthur Nankivell embodies the avant-garde fervor of early 20th-century modernity. Painted in 1907, this work finds its place within the nascent Abstract Expressionist movement, where artists sought to disrupt traditional representational modes and probe the expressive potential of color and gesture. Nankivell’s technique is characterized by fine brushwork that imbues his compositions with a tangible sense of energy and spontaneity. In “Setting ’em off”, this technique is leveraged to create a vibrant, almost three-dimensional effect, as if the paint itself were bursting forth from the canvas.As scaled up to 44×45 inches, Nankivell’s palette assumes a commanding presence within its new spatial context. The bright yellows, reds, blues, and blacks interact in complex ways, generating an atmospheric weight that oscillates between tension and resolution. Compositional structures embedded wi