Hunter Hunted
Item
Title
Hunter Hunted
Creator
Gabor Peterdi
American, b. Hungary, 1915–2001
American, b. Hungary, 1915–2001
Date
1947
Materials
Engraving
Measurements
Plate: 14-3/4 x 13-7/8 in. (37.6 x 35.3 cm), sheet: 19-3/8 x 17-3/8 in. (49.2 x 44.1 cm)
Description
Hungarian-born Gabor Peterdi began his career as an artist at the age of fifteen, when he travelled to Italy on a Prix de Rome scholarship for painting. After a year of study, he settled in Paris, where he associated with a number of artists active in the avant-garde, including Stanley William Hayter, with whom he began working in 1933 at the original Atelier 17. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Peterdi moved to the United States, became a U.S. citizen, and then joined the Army.
Following his military discharge in 1946, Peterdi resumed his work with Hayter at the New York Atelier 17, where many of the intaglios he produced reflected his experiences during the war. “The uncertainties of our century,” he has written of the period, “forced me to express them as they burst into futile and horrible action.” This sentiment is appropriate to Hunter Hunted (dated 1948 by the artist here but in fact created in 1947), in which enraged creatures viciously turn on their pursuer. Like a number of artists working with Atelier 17 at the time, Peterdi’s imagery derives from Picasso’s surrealist works, in particular, Guernica, which, although painted a decade earlier, endured for many as the consummate comment on the horrors of military conflict.
Following his military discharge in 1946, Peterdi resumed his work with Hayter at the New York Atelier 17, where many of the intaglios he produced reflected his experiences during the war. “The uncertainties of our century,” he has written of the period, “forced me to express them as they burst into futile and horrible action.” This sentiment is appropriate to Hunter Hunted (dated 1948 by the artist here but in fact created in 1947), in which enraged creatures viciously turn on their pursuer. Like a number of artists working with Atelier 17 at the time, Peterdi’s imagery derives from Picasso’s surrealist works, in particular, Guernica, which, although painted a decade earlier, endured for many as the consummate comment on the horrors of military conflict.
Source
Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University
Identifier
2008.88
Rights
This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.