Budapest '56
1965
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
lithograph (zinc) in dark blue and dark red on white Arches paper
Dimensions
sheet: 32.5 x 25 cm (12 13/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith
Accession Number
1984.34.815
Art Historical Context
This lithograph, titled *Budapest '56*, was created by Clifford Smith in 1965. The title directly evokes the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, a dramatic uprising in Budapest against Soviet control that became a defining moment of the Cold War. Produced nearly a decade after the events, the work captures the lasting impact of that struggle through the intimate scale of printmaking. Smith employed zinc lithography, a process in which an image is drawn on a metal plate with greasy materials and then printed. The resulting two-color impression in dark blue and dark red on fine white Arches paper cre...