Oil on canvas, 1963. 505x760 mm; 20x30 inches. Signed and dated in oil, lower right recto, and signed, titled and dated in oil, verso.
Provenance: Private collection, Portland, Oregon.
At the age of only 15, Peterdi (1915-2001) exhibited his paintings at the Ernst Museum in Budapest. That same year he won the prestigious Prix de Rome for painting and continued his studies at the Academia delle Belle Arti before moving to Paris. Settling in the United States in 1939, his first American solo exhibition of paintings opened later that year at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York. While maintaining his activity among the Abstract Expressionist printmakers at Atelier 17, New York, in 1948 Peterdi began teaching at the Brooklyn Museum School of Art, organizing its graphic arts workshop. This position gave way to a post as associate professor of art at Hunter College (1952-60), and his teaching career culminating with the art faculty at the Yale School of Art (1960-87).
Peterdi's art often evokes themes of nature, landscape and elemental forces. Petrified Forest exhilarates and captivates with its cool colors, frequently seen in Peterdi's palette, and his gestural and abstracted qualities, repeatedly associated with the Abstract Expressionists.
