Anthurium IV, from The Peterdi Years: Alumni Portfolio

Judith Bernstein’s Anthurium IV offers an unexpected vantage on the anthurium, a common houseplant with waxy red leaves and a prominent spadix, or stalk. The artist etched the outline of the flower in sweeping, calligraphic strokes against an atmospheric, aquatinted background. In Bernstein’s work, the anthurium is a metaphor for the complexities of sexuality, power, and gender—issues that have long preoccupied her. At left, the spadix, massively enlarged, forcefully juts up through the composition. Despite its phallic shape, the anthurium spadix is a carrier for numerous tiny flowers, each containing both male and female structures. This tension between appearances and anatomical subtleties allows Bernstein to make a nuanced, yet unsparing critique of masculinist violence.