Four Seasons: Winter 

Curator: Here we have Peter Max’s “Four Seasons: Winter,” rendered with acrylic on canvas. It’s awash in pastels, quite unlike the starkness one might expect. Editor: The colours strike me as almost unsettling. The light purples and greens, paired with that deep blue, give it an otherworldly, almost dreamlike quality. It's a strange "winter" landscape. Curator: The composition invites contemplation. Notice how Max employs broad strokes, eschewing detail in favour of capturing a certain mood, a certain feeling of the season. Editor: Those broad strokes betray the process, don't they? I'm particularly drawn to the texture—you can practically see the layers of acrylic building upon each other. I wonder about the labor involved; there's a physicality present. Curator: Interesting, your focus on the application of paint as a process. Speaking of process, I find that its adherence to abstraction invites subjective interpretation—what are we really seeing here beyond form and color relationships? Editor: Perhaps we're seeing the raw materials transform before our eyes, elevated by artistic labour into something contemplative. The social context surely influences the work as well; consumerism and post-war optimism spring to mind. Curator: Yes, certainly elements of those movements surface in its Fauvist undertones. And in its form we are looking at expressionism with a semiotic narrative of what Peter Max's idea of an allegorical, winter scene would entail. Editor: I agree; Max captures a material transformation steeped in societal ideals of the time period with abstract impressionistic aesthetics. Thank you for giving this work some context! Curator: Thank you for grounding us in the work and process, the real grit and glory, beneath the theoretical frameworks.