Myth of Creation 1940

Stanley William Hayter made this intaglio print, "Myth of Creation," and, wow, what a title! What a claim! I can only imagine Hayter bent over a metal plate, his tools in hand, scratching and carving into its surface, building up layers of lines, of blacks, whites, and grays. It’s not just about representation but about bringing forth something entirely new, a universe of its own. The gestures here feel almost frantic, like he’s trying to capture something fleeting, something beyond words. I see echoes of Picasso and Miró, but there’s something uniquely Hayter in the way he merges abstraction with figuration. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation with one another, borrowing, stealing, and transforming ideas across time. It’s a testament to the power of art to explore the unknown and to embrace ambiguity. There isn't one single way to read it, and that’s precisely the point.