Curatorial notes
Editor: This is "Sur une jambe," a collage and print on paper by Hans Richter. While the date is unspecified, it evokes a mid-century aesthetic. I find the layered composition quite striking. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a powerful engagement with balance and imbalance. Richter’s work here is steeped in the symbolic language of constructivism, a movement born from utopian ideals and a search for order. But “Sur une jambe”—meaning “on one leg”—suggests precarity. How do you read that tension? Editor: That's fascinating. I hadn’t considered the title in relation to the composition. The shapes do seem deliberately off-kilter. Is this precarity a common theme in Richter’s work, perhaps reflecting the instability of the time? Curator: Exactly! Remember Richter's Dada roots. Even when he embraced geometric abstraction, he infused it with a Dada sensibility, a playful subversion. The title implies an active force defying gravity, which also brings to mind individual struggle against oppressive structures, or maybe a society trying to find balance after destruction and upheaval. The layering of visual elements suggests a conscious effort to rebuild, or perhaps reconstruct, but it isn’t perfect and complete; like our memories, fragments persist. Editor: So the shapes themselves are not just abstract forms but also symbols of societal rebuilding. It makes me wonder how the colors contribute, as well. Curator: What do the muted tones suggest to you? Editor: I guess a certain seriousness. Maybe a sense of something incomplete or in progress. Curator: Precisely. They temper the optimism that often colors constructivist art, pointing toward a more nuanced and realistic outlook. A fascinating exploration of a world striving for equilibrium, even – or especially – on shaky ground. Editor: I never would have picked up on that nuance! I now appreciate how deeply embedded social context and emotional nuance can be, even within seemingly simple abstractions.