String Quartette c. 1940

Curator: Look at the peculiar composition in Olin Herman Travis's "String Quartette" from around 1940. It's an etching rendered in ink. Quite the narrative scene. What are your first thoughts? Editor: What strikes me immediately is how much it emphasizes process, using etching to achieve so much movement and implied sound in the narrative. You can almost feel the texture of the paper itself contributing to this surreal stage. Curator: Precisely! Note how each musician inhabits a distinct symbolic space. One skates precariously, another perches in a tree…there is an element of chaos in a landscape that mixes music and mortality. The instruments, as a unifying element, are like containers for human expression. Editor: And it's worth noting the probable means of production for something like this etching – the copper plate, the acids, the press itself. In this time period the relative ease of production using print technologies opens up new avenues to a wider audience than painting might. Curator: That's very astute. One could consider the cultural resonance of a string quartet – an embodiment of order and refinement – set against such a bizarre and disrupted backdrop. It recalls the medieval Dance of Death, but is re-coded into the modern anxiety. This music may represent life but the setting and composition bring it into the view of potential ending and certainly disruption. Editor: And consider the labor embedded in each impression. The artist repeats the process for each copy made; what does such replication of labour mean? This piece challenges that fine art is more inherently worthy or complex because there’s a different scale, as opposed to mass-produced pieces that are intended for consumption, and the context that informs them. Curator: True. Its stark tonality evokes uncertainty – maybe the interwar period itself is suggested? These fractured pillars, the collapsing musician – emblems of shattered social order? This scene can also be regarded as deeply symbolic with figures who could be performing their life even when surrounded by signs of ending. Editor: Thinking materially about the image creation reveals insights on consumption, class, and artistic goals. In many respects the means shape the message itself. I like the way it ties high art to mundane concerns! Curator: Indeed. So, this piece uses archetypal symbolic expression within a complex narrative framework. Editor: Whereas for me the most interesting aspect relates to understanding what artistic printmaking does to expand conversations with its viewers. A fantastic juxtaposition.