
Gabor Peterdi
San Jose State College Gallery
The best of Peterdi’s many esthetic approaches seems to be his translation of big-scale natural phenomena into combinations of the etching and engraving techniques. A superb example is the print, Angry Sky, with strong diagonals hatched down from the upper left, broken intermittently with horizontal billowy lines that suggest clouds and thrashing rain. The print, Winter II, speaks a similar formal language, yet it depicts a localized and specific place treated with great delicacy and restraint. This exhibit amounts to a small retrospective (1947–1961), and it was indeed pleasurable to see a printmaker combine highly skilled technical accomplishment with beautiful fresh images as Peterdi has so successfully done.
