Top of the World 1957

Mort Künstler made this painting, Top of the World, presumably with oil on canvas, and what I notice first is how the action is frozen. The whole scene is painted with thin, careful strokes and a tight realism. There's very little texture, but the overall effect is still dynamic. The colour palette is cool and muted, dominated by blues, whites, and greys, but this makes the warm oranges of the hunter's clothing pop out against the landscape. And then there's that yellow burst from the rifle – a concentrated point of energy that sets off the whole scene. It’s as if Künstler is saying, "Here’s where the story really begins." The frozen breath of the man who is running away is a beautiful detail, capturing the instant when everything went wrong, when the hunt turned into something else entirely. It's like he’s trying to capture not just what happened, but what it *felt* like. Künstler’s work reminds me a little of Norman Rockwell, with his own way of telling an involving story in a single frame. Ultimately, what the narrative is, is up to us.