Peaky Forms 1923

Janos Mattis-Teutsch created ‘Peaky Forms’ with oil paint, in a style that moves towards abstraction, expressing the artist's inner world. Mattis-Teutsch was a Hungarian artist who lived through a period of great social upheaval in Europe. His work often reflects the anxieties and hopes of this time. The image creates meaning through its non-representational forms and bold colors. These could be seen as a response to the increasing mechanization and industrialization of society, offering a counterpoint to the dehumanizing effects of modernity. It can also be seen as a kind of spiritual expression or as a utopian vision. To understand the cultural and intellectual context of this work, we might look at the artist's involvement with the avant-garde movements of his time. The task for the art historian is to understand such works as embedded in a matrix of social and institutional relations.