In Exile 1957 - 1961

Editor: This is "In Exile," an intaglio print made between 1957 and 1961 by Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan. The scene feels quite intimate, but also heavy with a kind of muted sadness. There are two figures sitting inside, but the image is primarily various gradations of grey and indistinct forms, and there's this pervasive darkness. How do you interpret this work? Curator: From a formalist perspective, the piece relies heavily on texture created by the intaglio process. Note how the artist manipulates light and shadow. Where does the eye linger, and why? The subjects are, yes, partially obscured, which could suggest a theme of concealment or perhaps the distortion of memory. But consider the use of hatching and cross-hatching – what effect does that have? Editor: It definitely adds to the feeling of the subjects being trapped by their surroundings. Does the style-- sort of on the cusp of realism but so smudgy-- play into that too? It is representational, yet obscured. Curator: Precisely. It appears almost unfinished or, rather, rendered through an act of constant erasure and redrawing. See how that repetition contributes to the overall mood of the composition? It becomes less about depicting literal reality and more about expressing a subjective experience, or the artist's own technical mastery. Editor: So, less about the 'what' they're doing, more about 'how' the medium conveys the emotion? Curator: Exactly. How the artist leverages these formal qualities speaks to the depth and potential of this work as an expression, in its time and ours. Editor: I see what you mean; I'll never look at grey in quite the same way again! Thanks for pointing that out.