Fortune Teller 1954

Curator: The somber countenance captured in Benton Spruance's 1954 lithograph, "Fortune Teller", immediately evokes a sense of gravitas, wouldn't you agree? Editor: Indeed. The limited palette amplifies that mood, adding to the intensity of the figure’s gaze. I’m struck by the prominence of the cards; they are more geometric than mystical. Curator: Absolutely. Spruance, deeply engaged with social issues, often used printmaking to explore themes of social alienation and anxiety. Consider the time. The Cold War, and McCarthyism were omnipresent. How does this image resonate with these themes, considering the social skepticism surrounding those who claimed unique access to “truth"? Editor: That makes perfect sense. The cards themselves could symbolize fate, manipulated by forces both seen and unseen—a subtle nod to the political manipulations of the era. The head covering almost alludes to ritual but reads as if her sight itself is obscured. It invites considerations of belief, truth and trust and how easily these things can be questioned. Curator: Furthermore, during this period, the proliferation of mass media significantly shaped public opinion and discourse. Printmaking, like Spruance’s lithograph, occupied a unique position between art and communication. Do you think the subject, who works in the liminal space between knowledge and speculation, mirrors the state of uncertainty and societal searching that the artwork responds to? Editor: Precisely. What’s also noteworthy is how he used symbolism in this and other works—drawing from a range of religious, mythical and literary motifs—but updated in ways that reflect post-war disillusionment. She looks trapped not enlightened by any of her “insights”. Curator: Well, delving into "Fortune Teller," through the lens of cultural anxieties offers us such insights. I see this piece now not just as a character study but a meditation on the unease of the atomic age. Editor: Agreed. The starkness serves as a stark reminder of a period fraught with anxiety—transformed, and made tangible by symbolic interpretation and clever deployment of reductive formal means.