Bortnyik Sándor, Születés 1918 

Curator: What a powerfully visceral image! This black and white drawing pulses with nervous energy. It feels almost… Cubist, in its fragmentation. Editor: That's "Birth, 1918" by Sándor Bortnyik. The medium itself—pen and ink—feels crucial to understanding its significance. The density of lines almost obscures the figures, drawing you into this moment of creation. Curator: You know, those angular, geometric shapes aren’t just abstract forms to me. I read them as conveying the sharp anxieties, even violence, inherent in birth, a literal struggle for life played out. Editor: Agreed, and consider the societal pressures present then, right after the First World War! The need to replenish the population… Here birth is portrayed as an industrial process—a mechanical, almost dehumanized act with tools and attendants surrounding the mother. Curator: Tools like those scissors! They're prominently displayed, implying a very medicalized, almost sterile view of childbirth for the time. And what about that priestly figure in the upper-left corner? Are we meant to consider religious oversight here too? Editor: Indeed, and this is what the Expressionist style allows. The figures aren’t naturally rendered; their forms serve to externalize the emotional turmoil of this experience. Consider the materials accessible at the time: relatively inexpensive paper, pen and ink, allow the image to become a mode of social commentary and dissemination during times of material restrictions. Curator: A sharp point. And perhaps we can’t ignore the artist's background in understanding this scene. Bortnyik fled Hungary shortly after this, partly due to his avant-garde activities and this piece's perceived anti-establishment themes, no doubt contributing to the chaotic emotional tone. Editor: A definite commentary then on not only childbirth, but also the production of individuals into the world! We could study each of the characters closely, deciphering who holds authority and whether these are to be read as oppressive structures. Curator: Right, all made starker and somehow more desperate, more *real*, through the frenetic hatching. This has offered me an all encompassing and, to some extent, disturbing new reading!