Watch 1940

Editor: Here we have Cyprián Majerník's "Watch," created in 1940, using oil paint. There's a group of soldiers rendered in muted browns and greens, beneath a stormy sky. What strikes me is how the roughness of the brushstrokes seems to reflect the harshness of their existence. What else do you see in this piece? Curator: Considering its materiality, I see not just brushstrokes but the artist’s very labor, reflecting the socio-political context. World War II had begun. The canvas itself and the pigment used are products embedded within an industrial system rapidly changing for war. How do you think the readily available access to materials affected his artistic choices here? Editor: I hadn't thought about the availability of materials affecting the work so directly! It does make you wonder if a more constrained palette reflected material limitations in wartime. Do you think that affects the artistic value of the work in any way? Curator: Not in terms of 'value' as such, but in its capacity to function as a signifier of the time and conditions of its making. The cheap production may have facilitated greater output, or changed aesthetic decisions. Consider, too, how the artist's labor is itself a product, influenced by these broader economic and social factors. Where do you see evidence of artistic "labour" present within this painting? Editor: I see it now, in the thick application of the oil paint! It feels less refined, and more raw and immediate. Before, I was only interpreting its symbolic value, but the making process and the materials clearly communicate the social context more powerfully. Curator: Exactly! Appreciating art is equally understanding the processes that enable it. Thinking about where materials come from, and the socio-political environment in which an artist operates, adds depth to our interpretation.