Peter Winslow Milton

Interpretation

These prints present spaces somewhere between reality and dream, where vibrant activity has suddenly been frozen. Artist Peter Milton works only in black ink—a practice he has committed to since discovering he has red-green colorblindness, or deuteranopia—but he nonetheless demonstrates the incredible work a single color can do. While the figures pull us in, it is the many things in these prints that heighten their fantastical qualities, whether the sparkling champagne glasses in the print on the left or the shimmering, floating mirage of a whale at right.

Acquisition note

These works, accompanied by three other prints by the same artist, were given to the RISD Museum by John Szoke, whose gallery specializes in prints by Pablo Picasso and Edvard Munch. Szoke worked with art historian Ann Schafer to place his gift here at RISD, a school with a strong printmaking program.

[CM]