Sunken Treasure 1952

Curator: This is Gabor Peterdi's "Sunken Treasure" a vibrant, if somewhat chaotic, print held here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It feels like a shipwreck, doesn't it? All jagged edges and lost colours, like memory fading under the sea. Curator: Considering Peterdi’s work often grappled with themes of displacement and the anxieties of the mid-20th century, that feeling is potent. It speaks to broader concerns of societal decay. Editor: There's a raw beauty, even in the chaos. I get the sense of something beautiful struggling to be seen through the murk. Curator: Absolutely, and analyzing the printmaking technique reveals Peterdi’s experimental approach. The layering and textures suggest a world both destroyed and in the process of being reformed. Editor: It’s like a visual poem, whispering secrets of the deep. Makes you wonder what treasures, what histories, lie hidden beneath the surface.