t ar matters
Week of Sunday, October 27, 2013
www.montgomerynews.com
Page 17
■ November 2013
■ Covering the Arts throughout the Philadelphia Region
T
By Burton Wasserman
he called metaphysical art. The places that appear in his pictures reveal a world drawn he human capacity for wanfrom the subconscious. Typically, they include dering through the depths of strange mannequin figures, an atmosphere of dreamland provided a basis troubled anxiety, repeating archways and venfor what became modern-day ues focused on the peculiar and the puzzling. Surrealism. It was an influenJoan Miró broke with conventional modes tial art movement that flourof painting by joining together an abstract ished in Europe and America lexicon with references to objects observed by for several years after the end conscious awareness. He also explored the use of World War I and then pretty of collage, assemblage and boldly simplified much went out of vogue with references to animals, offbeat places and huthe onset of World War II. man anatomy. In time, the original poets and painters who Jean Arp made use of torn fragments of paidentified with surrealism, passed on. Today, per and references to such biomorphic shapes few serious artists still pursue the idiom. found in the world of nature as roots, bones, In spite of this, the original style leaves and fruits. continues to attract the attention of Perhaps the best known of all the artists connoisseurs and provide them with consider- represented by examples of their work in able aesthetic stimulation. This is true of the the exhibition is Salvador Dali. His paintshow focused on the moveing “Soft Construction with ment currently on view at the Boiled Beans (Premonition Philadelphia Museum of Art. of Civil War)” must surely be Titled “Surrealist Works one of the most disturbing and “Surrealist Works from the Permanent Collecstartling images of the entire from the Permanent tion,” the display is installed installation. Collection” in the Special Exhibitions With meticulous brush will be on display Gallery of the Perelman Buildstrokes, he has painted in the Perelman Building ing, across the Parkway at disjointed parts of a person of the Philadelphia 26th Street from the landmark ravaging other anatomical parts Museum of Art, Greek-revival structure on of its own being. An emotion2525 Pennsylvania Ave., Fairmount. It is set to remain ally stunning metaphor, it Philadelphia, PA 19130, there, on public view until symbolizes different elements through March 2, 2014. Info: 215-761-8300 or March 2, 2014. of a country seeking to wreak www.philamuseum.org. Sigmund Freud’s explorahavoc and destruction on other tion of free-association-talkparts of itself, as indeed takes therapy, dream analysis and his place in the body politic during decoding of mysteries from the subconscious a civil war. Exactly such a war did take place mind were of major importance to helping in Spain, Dali’s homeland, in 1937, a year after the surrealists liberate a rich flow of fantasy he painted it. As a hallucinatory image, it is images. They also made use of myth and absolutely unforgettable. automatic or undirected-spontaneous drawing When World War II broke out in Europe, techniques in their pursuit of profound visual many of the surrealists came to the United expression. States. Max Ernst was a highly regarded GerGiorgio de Chirico contributed an approach man artist at the time. When he came to live
ExhibitionsInSight
‘Surrealists’ rise again at PMA
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“Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War),” 1936, Salvador Dalí, Spanish, 19041989. Oil on canvas, 39 5/16 x 39 3/8 inches (99.9 x 100 cm), Philadelphia Museum of Art, © Salvador Dali, Gala Salvador Dali Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
and work in the American West, he also married a talented artist named Dorothea Tanning. Her masterpiece, a self-portrait, semi-nude titled “Birthday,” is one of the highlights of
the exhibition, as are several of her husband’s works in both two and three dimensions. Please see Surrealists on a19