Maquette, page 14 1935 - 1944

Curator: Today, we’re looking at "Maquette, page 14" by Nathan Lerner, a work spanning from 1935 to 1944. What strikes you initially? Editor: The starkness. It's like looking at two separate worlds—geometric abstraction versus playful, almost childlike lines, all trapped in a high contrast monochrome. There's a real tension between control and chaos, no? Curator: Precisely. The work juxtaposes two distinct photograms: One a careful arrangement of shapes and lines, the other a more spontaneous, almost kinetic light drawing. Think about it, photograms themselves are cameraless, immediate—a dance between light and shadow. Editor: I'm seeing a strong nod towards Modernism. The geometric grid, the clean lines… it screams of a Bauhaus influence perhaps? A drive to find the underlying structure of form itself. Curator: Absolutely! Lerner, deeply influenced by the New Bauhaus, aimed to explore pure form. The grid, circles, and intersecting diagonals provide a structural logic to that top image. Whereas in the lower photogram, it seems more impulsive; pure energy captured. Editor: And isn't it interesting how the top one feels like architecture, controlled and planned, and the lower one, like an unbound gesture of calligraphy or dance. There's a rhythm. They almost play off each other, each somehow commenting on the other's limitations. Curator: That's key. Consider Lerner’s exploration— he tests the boundaries between precision and spontaneity, order and randomness, light and dark. There's a search for a fundamental language in art. Editor: It also makes you wonder about process—the darkroom experimentation, the joy in discovering these effects. These aren't simply photographs; they are artifacts of play, where accidents perhaps led to true innovations. Curator: Right. It pushes beyond representation. Instead of depicting the world, Lerner reveals the mechanics of seeing, light's inherent qualities. That's why I always return to it, it teaches me about looking, seeing... imagining. Editor: Agreed. There is something fundamentally provocative about Lerner's image and the relationship between these two visual styles. The two contrasting compositions offer viewers a beautiful tension that pushes back on our conventional way of viewing modern visual art.