Bird Stalks Man 1946

Curator: This is Peter Grippe's "Bird Stalks Man," created in 1946 using ink, graphite, and pen. Editor: It's incredibly unsettling. A dense thicket of lines that suggests menace, a feeling of being watched and hunted down. So many eyes staring. Curator: Grippe's work from this period frequently engages with anxieties around power dynamics and surveillance. "Bird Stalks Man" certainly exemplifies this. The post-war atmosphere was rife with suspicion and paranoia; think of the emerging Cold War. This artwork encapsulates that era's undercurrent of dread. Editor: The composition is disorienting; are we meant to see the man first, and then the predatory bird, or the other way around? Perhaps that’s the point – the shifting power, the feeling of precarity that anyone, even the most dominant figure, can become prey. Curator: And consider the technique. The fractured, almost Cubist-like rendering of the figures and geometric forms heighten that sense of unease and instability. He worked across the mediums of print, drawing and sculpture, all of which fed into one another. Editor: This could represent institutional surveillance too – where those in authority watch our every move. The faceless figures hint at how insidious power operates, and who truly holds the power. The title leads you to believe it’s about predator versus prey, but it’s the facelessness, the deconstruction of both man and bird, that strikes me. What kind of systems encourage that deconstruction, what structures promote a constant state of being ‘stalked’? Curator: Grippe was involved with Atelier 17 in New York. It was an experimental printmaking workshop, emphasizing abstraction. In looking at 'Bird Stalks Man', you see the result of working in a place concerned with dismantling and building back the image, where established ideas were challenged. Editor: In dismantling the subject and building back through geometric abstraction, this work feels intensely modern. "Bird Stalks Man" feels like it holds up a mirror to some of the darkest anxieties of our time – the fragility of power, the dangers of unseen observation. Curator: Precisely. A potent reminder that artistic responses to historical moments often resonate deeply across generations. Editor: And that art doesn't just reflect society, but questions who society benefits, and who is left out in the process.