"Paa Tribunen" 1935

Curator: "Paa Tribunen," created in 1935 by Christian Kongstad Petersen, a striking work rendered in ink on paper. Its current home is here with us at the SMK. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: Claustrophobic. And melancholic, almost aggressively so. The frantic energy in the lines is compelling, but the figures feel trapped. Curator: Trapped is a powerful word for it. Given the year it was made, 1935, those looming dark verticals pressing down around these suited men could easily suggest encroaching political anxieties, a sense of being hemmed in by oppressive forces. Editor: Precisely. The hat, the suit... uniforming signifiers of power, or at least aspiration, rendered meaningless in this suffocating atmosphere. They're practically swallowed by shadow. And the facelessness! The erasure of individuality behind a white visor shape. Curator: It is unsettling, that block of white obscuring the features of the figure on the left. Consider the tribune, the platform. Normally, one ascends it to be seen, to speak, to lead. Here, it feels as though ascension leads to obliteration. And the ink, it feels hastily applied. Editor: Absolutely. This isn't about precise representation; it’s about emotional immediacy. The frantic lines almost become the bars of a cage, or a thicket, perhaps the underbrush of cultural memory through which we discern recurring, oppressive patterns. That one spot of pale visage against the surrounding darkness - that suggests blind adherence to a set of principles more than informed decisions by individual actors. It is quite eerie. Curator: Well put. The drawing offers us more than a snapshot of men on a platform. The composition reflects Petersen's emotional landscape. It also opens an interesting, if somewhat disturbing, window into the psyche of that era, particularly regarding the dynamics of power and personhood. It prompts questions about conformity and its discontents. Editor: It definitely lingers in the mind long after viewing it. Perhaps it is because it so masterfully captures the cultural amnesia of its period, and reminds us, through symbol and feeling, to resist history's worst repetitions.