Curatorial Narrative The copper snake in Lilien’s 1923 work slips through the spatial rhythm of the composition with an almost ethereal presence. This Art Deco masterpiece is at once a product and a critique of the modernist era’s fetishization of technological progress, as embodied by the industrial materiality of copper. The artist’s linear brushwork imbues the subject with a sense of dynamism, yet it also freezes it in a state of arrested motion. By applying black and white tones to this highly polished medium, Lilien highlights the inherent tensions between light and matter.When enlarged to 44×51 inches, the chromatic structure of “Copper Snake” begins to exert its full atmospheric weight on the interior environment. The sharp contrast between the snake’s reflective surface and the surrounding dark space creates a visual tension that draws the viewer into the composition. Against walls finished in materials such as terrazzo or p