In Search of Lost Time: Peter Milton Prints

In Search of Lost Time is the title of a 2006 print by Peter Milton, which comes from an English translation of French author Marcel Proust’s monumental novel À la recherche du temps perdu, published between 1913 and 1927. As the title of the exhibition, it fittingly alludes to the enigmatic and fantastical narratives for which Milton is known in his elaborately detailed, large-scale etchings. Combining the real and surreal, Milton places photographic rendering of figures amidst soft-focused, ethereal atmospheres that seem like a dream. Works from his early period of the 1960s and ‘70s appear with more recent work, drawn from the FIA’s permanent collection and loans from a private collection. These prints demonstrate Milton’s fascination with the 19th century, using references from literature, early photography, and painters such as John Singer Sargent, as well as his interest in photographers of the 1930s such as André Kertész.

Milton studied under color theorist Josef Albers at Yale University in the 1950s. He began his career as a painter, but after several years, his interest waned. Milton was tested for color deficiency at John Hopkins University in 1962 and was “shocked at the degree of deficiency” of his sensitivity to red and green. This cemented his interest in printmaking, with him noting, “Texture was becoming my replacement for color.” In these etchings, he explored use of space and texture without being hindered by his limitations in sensing color differentiations. Milton said, “It seemed imperative to find virgin territory, and my landscapes—completely imaginary—were that territory.”

Image: Peter Milton, American, b. 1930. Plate II, No. 7 (from The Jolly Corner Suite), 1971. Resist-ground etching and engraving on paper. 9 3/4 x 14 3/4 inches. Gift of the Estate of Irving Leonard Finkelstein, 2016.160. © 2018 Peter Milton / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York