Elevator c. 1942

Editor: Here we have Jolán Gross-Bettelheim’s "Elevator," created around 1942. It's an etching, a kind of print. The geometry of it all feels so cold and heavy. What stands out to you when you look at this? Curator: Oh, Jolán... she was such a fascinating soul! I see a symphony of industrial ambition rendered in lines both delicate and powerful. The sharp angles evoke a sense of dynamism, almost like the city itself is in motion. Notice how the artist plays with perspective, pulling us into this almost dizzying space. There's something very... prophetic about it, isn’t there? Almost a visual poem about the machine age. Do you feel that? Editor: I do get a sense of progress, but also maybe a feeling of being overwhelmed by it? It's kind of unsettling. Curator: Unsettling... precisely! It is the question that is always lurking when people decide to express an opinion regarding industrialization and technological advancement, isn’t it? All those power lines like spiderwebs catching dreams... Do you ever wonder if we have become those caught dreams? Editor: That’s a pretty evocative image. So, the etching shows both excitement and anxiety about the future? Curator: It's the dance, isn’t it? The eternal dance between aspiration and apprehension. The industrial age gifted us flight, medicine, skyscrapers, but at what cost? What dreams have we lost amidst the steel and smoke? Editor: Wow. I'm going to need to rethink everything. Curator: Jolán would approve, my dear! Now, tell me, what’s next on our journey of discovery?