Zeemeermin en uiteenvallende vis 1958

Curator: This curious miniature is "Mermaid and Disintegrating Fish" by Walter Rauch, made in 1958 using etching and collage techniques, combining ink, paper, and print. Editor: There’s a sort of controlled chaos to it, isn't there? Despite its small scale, the density of detail creates a rather unsettling atmosphere. The textures are really grabbing me—especially the contrast between the smoothness of what appears to be the mermaid’s tail and the spiky forms around her. Curator: Rauch was producing this kind of fantastical figuration and abstraction during a very tense period of the Cold War. Artists at this time grappled with anxieties about impending disaster by creating surreal, personal iconography, moving away from dominant modes of representation. Editor: So, the mermaid isn’t just a mythical figure; it could be read as a commentary on societal fragility, perhaps? It's as if Rauch is fragmenting reality, the disintegrating fish mirroring the breaking apart of the world order. The monochrome lends a dreamlike, almost nightmarish, quality that really emphasizes the piece's disquieting essence. Curator: Exactly. And if we think about Rauch showing with the Hundertwasser group and the Galerie St. Stephan at the time, he's part of a larger avant-garde resisting established artistic norms through personal mythology. Editor: Looking again at the composition, I find that the mermaid isn’t centered but sort of anchors the entire lower section. The lines almost direct the eye from her toward the oddly segmented fish, emphasizing the sense of…fragmentation, of something falling apart. Even the negative space contributes, adding to this atmosphere. It seems deliberate and carefully composed to express dread. Curator: Indeed. His artistic milieu certainly cultivated experimentation. In any case, “Mermaid and Disintegrating Fish” speaks to its time. Editor: Well, I certainly see Rauch’s piece with different eyes now—as both a disquieting tableau and a sharp visual reflection on a very particular historical anxiety. Thank you!