Exercise in Advancing and Receding Values 1922 - 1923

Curator: Here, we see Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack’s "Exercise in Advancing and Receding Values," held at the Harvard Art Museums. It's about 67 by 50 centimeters, featuring graduated gray ovals against a trio of contrasting vertical panels. Editor: My first thought? It feels like a visual metronome, swinging between light and shadow. There’s something both soothing and unsettling about the repetition. Curator: It's fascinating how Hirschfeld-Mack uses this simple form to explore tonal relationships. The ovals themselves become like symbolic eyes, each holding a different perspective on light. Editor: Exactly! And the ovals—they're almost lunar, like phases echoing through the psyche, pulling us from darkness to illumination. I wonder if this was about finding balance. Curator: Possibly. Or perhaps about the subjective nature of perception itself. The eye dances, seeking resolution, finding none, in this chromatic experiment. Editor: Right, because we always crave that easy answer. Maybe Hirschfeld-Mack is showing us that the truth is somewhere in the gray area, in the tension itself. Curator: Perhaps the truth is that value, like beauty, rests in the eye. Editor: So, maybe it all comes down to the fact that there's no such thing as black and white, only endless shades of gray.