First, that they pay attention to materials-the work might turn out well, and you’ll be sorry it’s on crappy paper. When I taught young artists in the BMA’s printroom, I always suggested a few things to keep in mind when creating art. Yale University Art Gallery: Gift of James N. Museum of Modern Art: Gift of the Artist, 103.1955 Gabor Peterdi (American, born Hungary, 1915–2001) In the end, I ran out of time.īy the way, if any of you studied with Peterdi, I’d love to hear your stories. I had been keeping my eye on it for years, waiting for the right time to pitch it. But I will note that Still Life in Germany is one that got away. I’ve included images here that I don’t mention because I think Peterdi deserves more attention and I love his sensibility. The deep emboss accentuates their addition as does the red ink he used, making the crosses seem to fall from the sky. I tried to express a composite feeling of flying with deadly birds and watching them from below.” This print is interesting also because of the four additional plates he laid on top of the large plate as it passed through the press. About the print Peterdi wrote: “My basic idea was to create an oppressive, enervating image haunted by fearful symbols of destruction. Peterdi’s The Vision of Fear, 1953, fits both categories. I also wrote about artists writing about their own work and how I wish more artists would take the time to do the same. In a previous post I wrote about artists making prints reacting to World War II in the years after its conclusion as a demonstration of that conflict’s lasting effect. (Among his many students at Yale were Peter Milton and Chuck Close.) In addition to establishing the printmaking program at the Brooklyn Museum School, Peterdi taught at Hunter College from 1952–1960, and then at Yale University from 1960–1987. Peterdi went on to have a long career both making prints and teaching printmaking. No surprise, that experience finds its way into his work. Like so many others, Peterdi made his way to America at the beginning of the war (remember, Europe was in turmoil for years leading up to the official declaration of war in September 1939). It’s hard to get the emotion just right in these kind of images, and I think Peterdi hits the nail on the head. One rarely finds any self-portraits among the prints made at Hayter’s workshop, but Peterdi is notable for a 1938 series of self-portraits in which he holds his head in his hands in despair. Like so many of his compatriots, he created prints that address issues of social justice and crimes against humanity, sometimes using the bull and bull fights or mythical horses and man-animal creatures as stand-ins for humankind. Gabor Peterdi was a Hungarian artist who worked at Atelier 17 in Paris in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War and leading up the second World War. Especially if the images read just as well in our time as in theirs. But still, we seem doomed to repeat our mistakes.Īs I’ve written before, I really appreciate an artist who digs in and expresses the fears and worries of their time in a way that helps viewers process and think. Humans have made it through more dire times than these. On top of that, as I write this, I’m riding out a hurricane in a cottage overlooking the very turbulent waters of Vineyard Sound. Between the pandemic, politics, and confronting America’s legacy of slavery and systemic racism, I am, as I’m sure you are, anxious. Recently I saw a t-shirt that said “Don’t make me repeat myself.
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