Tahitian Reef #IV by Gabor Peterdi

Gabor Peterdi 1915-2001
Gabor Peterdi was born in Hungary. He began the study of art at age 14 at the Hungarian Academy. After just a couple of years he was able to study at the Academia delle Belle Arti on scholarship. He also studied in Paris at both the Academie Julian and the Academie Scandinavien. His steep ascendency in the art world continued when he joined the prestigious Atelier 17 (Paris) in 1933 at age 18. Under the tutelage of the great artist and teacher William Stanley Hayter, he learned etching and engraving. Printmaking became his preferred outlet and he became recognized as one of the pre-eminent print artists of the post-WWII era.
His talent was recognized almost immediately as he had his first exhibit when he as 15 at the Ernst Museum in Budapest. That same year he won the Prix de Rome scholarship leading to his time at the Academia delle Belle Arti. Following his arrival in the United States in 1939, he had a solo exhibit of paintings at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. Following WWII (where he served in the US military in Germany as a naturalized citizen of the United States) he joined the Atelier 17 in New York and focused on print making. He preferred intaglio prints and throughout his career explored new techniques that expanded the approach to intaglio printmaking. His work shows the influence of Hayter, although he well beyond the geometric abstractions favored by his mentor. Still, his work retains its abstract expressionist origins.
He became an influential teacher of printmaking joining the faculty of the Brooklyn Museum in 1948 and subsequently teaching at Hunter College, and Yale where he finished his career. He authored a very influential book on the art of printmaking, Printmaking Methods Old and New.
His work is held in many major collections, most notably the National Gallery of Art (that has more than 20 of his prints), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art (New York the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This piece is from a set of etchings Peterdi executed in 1970 after a visit to Tahiti. Many of these use the reef as inspiration. While one gets an impression of the reef from the use of blue and red, it is purely abstract with nothing that can be identified as being a reef dweller. These are large scale works beautifully etching on cream paper. Deep impression with sharp image enhanced through the use of dry point throughout. Very dramatic work. This piece is number 3-00 in the lower left (which I assume means an edition of 100 which is a typical run for Peterdi). It is pencil signed Peterdi 70 Imp lower right and titled Tahitian Reef #IV in the center below the image. The mat and backing are not archival. A very striking work that would be the focal point for a room.

Size: 1970
Price: $350
Framed Size: 38 x 28.25 inches
Plate Size: 23.75 x 19.75 inches
Condition: Excellent
Medium: Drypoint Etching
Subject: Abstract

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