Dark Horizon 1954

Editor: We're looking at "Dark Horizon," an etching created in 1954 by Gabor Peterdi. It’s a somewhat bleak abstract cityscape. All those muted blues and greens layered into the blacks are kind of striking. What strikes you about it? Curator: What I see is a critical reflection on industrial production and its consequences, materially etched into the copper plate itself. This wasn't just about aesthetics for Peterdi. Think about the socio-political context: post-war anxieties, the Cold War, anxieties about urbanization. Editor: So you see the abstraction itself as reflecting something specific about post-war industrialization? Curator: Precisely. The etching process, with its acids biting into metal, mirrors the destructive forces of industrialization. The sharp, angular forms—are they buildings, are they ruins? – the city's materiality rendered unstable. Where does the landscape end and the city begin? This piece also makes one wonder about the availability and sourcing of those blues and greens Peterdi incorporates – is there a socio-economic history within those specific pigments? Editor: It does make me think about labor…the work that goes into both building a city and creating an etching. The artist, and the unknown laborers. Curator: Absolutely. Consider, too, the consumption of prints – multiples intended for a wider audience than a unique painting. It's a democratization of sorts, yet reliant on the same industrial processes being critiqued. Editor: I never thought about prints as a more democratic medium… That tension between critique and participation is really interesting. I definitely see the cityscape now as less bleak, and more conflicted. Curator: Exactly, and art’s power lies in uncovering such complexities.