Mountain, Lake and Sky #2 1948

Editor: This is Bernard Kohn’s 1948 print, "Mountain, Lake and Sky #2." It's an interesting composition; the shapes are very angular and simplified, giving it a slightly melancholic, lonely feeling, but I’m unsure if that was Kohn’s intention. What do you see in this piece, in terms of technique or mood? Curator: Lonely is an interesting word to use for this piece! For me, there’s something calming and quietly joyful about its abstraction, as if he were stripping away the unnecessary details to find a place for contemplative stillness. It reminds me of a half-remembered dream of nature, like a watercolor slowly fading under morning light. Don't you agree there's a dream-like state to the colours used? Editor: I suppose I can see what you mean about "calming" more than "joyful." So, the title suggests landscape, but all we have are geometric forms. What does this simplification achieve, artistically? Curator: Precisely, it nudges us to reconsider what ‘landscape’ even means! By reducing a scene to its purest forms and colours, he presents us with the idea of a memory, a whisper of a landscape experienced – not a photograph. There's also something to be said about how limiting himself might open up broader artistic interpretations. You see it? Editor: I think so, now! So it's less about depicting a specific place and more about conveying the essence or the memory of that space. Curator: Exactly. And it also reminds me how essential imperfection can be, for creating real emotional texture! It could be seen as finding the landscape inside, which feels even bigger. What is more, what is smaller, really? Editor: I didn't consider the landscape from that personal perspective at all! It's amazing how much you can get from such a simple image. Curator: I know! Maybe we can all try to find what makes us pause for some beauty today.