Gabor Peterdi
American, born Hungary, 1915 - 2001Arctic Bird, 1964
Not on view
Etching, engraving, aquatint in six colors on paper
Dimensions38 5/16 × 24 15/16 in. (97.3 × 63.3 cm)
Image: 35 9/16 × 22 1/2 in. (90.3 × 57.2 cm)
Museum purchase, 1966.1
Gabor Peterdi worked in a variety of media, but he is best known for his skills as a printmaker. He addressed themes of nature, the elements, and destruction of the earth with his art. Peterdi often used vibrant colors in his compositions, which emphasized line, texture and abstract shapes.
Arctic Bird is set amid a surreal landscape in which shapes hover above a dark grey horizon line. Peterdi’s use of blue and grey creates a frozen feeling to the print, which is further emphasized by the crystalline blue figure, possibly a bird, suspended in midair. The overall effect is one of stasis, of time stopped.
