Solidarité 1938

Stanley William Hayter made this etching, entitled "Solidarité", which means solidarity in French. The title alone suggests that it reflects something of the politically charged atmosphere in Europe during the mid-twentieth century. Hayter ran Atelier 17, a printmaking studio, which became a hub for surrealist artists during the Second World War. His focus on automatism, where the artist relinquishes conscious control, leaving the unconscious mind to take over, connects to the surrealist interest in dreams and the irrational. Looking at the angular lines that seem to create a sense of fragmented figures, we might consider how the abstract language of surrealism provided a means of commenting on the fracturing of society. The imagery evokes instability and perhaps also the possibility of things coming together. The study of the surrealist journals, political pamphlets, and other printed ephemera of the period can shed light on the relationship between art and politics at this time. The meaning of this art emerges not just from the image itself but from the historical context in which it was produced.