Untitled (Mozart Profile to Viewer's Left, Multiple Colors On Dark Brown Background) 1945

Editor: We’re looking at Joseph Solman's "Untitled (Mozart Profile to Viewer's Left, Multiple Colors On Dark Brown Background)" from 1945. It's a mixed-media piece on paper. It’s quite striking – a somewhat distorted profile emerging from a dark background. What do you see in this piece? Curator: You know, I see a ghost of an idea, a whisper of Mozart, really. The colors feel both vibrant and melancholic. It’s like Solman’s capturing a fleeting memory, not just of a face, but of a feeling. Almost as if he saw him across a crowded, smoky bar. Editor: A fleeting memory...I like that. It feels very immediate. Is that part of the Abstract Expressionist style? Curator: Exactly! This is Solman riffing on Abstract Expressionism. Notice the seemingly haphazard strokes, the colors bleeding into each other. But it’s also deeply representational; he is depicting a person, or some-one who once was a person, making a profile we expect, almost crave, from this figure. The distortion actually enhances the emotional intensity, don't you think? Editor: I see what you mean. It's not a precise portrait, more an emotional impression. The colors definitely contribute. Were works like this politically charged in the '40s? Curator: That's a great question! I see this more as introspective art responding to a world recovering from profound, seismic level events, reflecting personal struggles rather than direct political statements. Art trying to process things too terrible for clear depictions. So you tell me, are you left thinking about life now, art then, or Mozart himself? Editor: Wow, it all sort of blends together, doesn’t it? Seeing this really challenges how I think about portraiture. Curator: Indeed, you can feel this portrait, this glimpse. Always let the artwork leave its trace on you, you'll not regret it.