K E V L A R
I S S U E
•
n°
31
•
2 0 2 2
[ ART ON BOARD ]
THE MAGIC OF SURREALISM In Venice and London, two exhibitions exploring the most fascinating aspects and the important figures in one of the most enduring movements in the history of art by Micaela Zucconi
Top, Max Ernst, Europe After the Rain, 1940-42. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund. Above, from left, Jeu de Marseille, 1941, Musée Cantini, Marseille: Oscar Domínguez, Freud Magus of Dreams-Star; Victor Brauner, Hélène Smith, Siren of Knowledge-Locks; Jacqueline Lamba, Ace of Revolution-Wheel and Baudelaire Genius of Love-Flame
110
D
ream, alchemy, the occult, myth and metamorphosis,
her Portrait of Max Ernst, (1939), now in a private collection. These
psychic automatism and the Freudian subconscious. The
two masterpieces are being reunited for the first time in eighty years.
Guggenheim Museum in Venice presents the fantastic
The exhibition unfolds in a sequence of different themes, such as the
world of surrealism in an exhibition entitled Surrealismo e magia.
analogies between man and nature, microcosm and macrocosm, the
La modernità incantata, curated by Gražina Subelyt. The museum,
magical dimension of the feminine, the superimposition of animal,
where Sanlorenzo Yachts is among the institutional patrons, brings
vegetable and human life, the cosmic forces and the dimension of
together sixty works from museums and private collections around the
the invisible. The metaphysical paintings of Giorgio de Chirico are
world, created by visionary artists who became part of a movement
followed by works by artists like René Magritte, Roberto Matta,
that promoted a new philosophy of life, one that was free from the
Salvador Dalí, Yves Tanguy and Kurt Seligman. Then it is the turn of
restrictions of convention and rejected the cult of reason. This was
the women of Surrealism, Leonor Fini, Dorothea Tanning, Remedios
surrealism, defined by Andrè Breton in his Manifesto of Surrealism,
Varo, Kay Sage and once again the eclectic Leonora Carrington.
published in Paris in 1924. The exhibition takes its cue from the
Cecilia Alemani took the title for the 59th Biennale from Carrington’s
extensive body of Surrealist works in the Guggenheim Collection that
book of stories The Milk of Dreams, and the curator has created a
reflect a dialogue with occult tradition, magic and dreams. The works
showcase of five “history capsules” for 20th century artists including
on display include The Surrealist by Victor Brauner and The Dressing
Carrington and Remedios Varo, all original interpreters of the
of the Bride (1940) by Max Ernst, which features Ernst’s partner,
Surrealist spirit. Surrealismo e Magia, open until 26 September,
the artist Leonora Carrington, who in turn had depicted her lover in
organised with the Barberini Museum of Potsdam, will move from
Top, left, René Magritte, Black Magic, 1945. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles; right, Victor Brauner, The Surrealist, 1947, Coll. Peggy Guggenheim, Venice (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York)
111
[ ART ON BOARD ]
Above, left, Kurt Seligmann, Baphomet, 1948, Coll. Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; right, Max Ernst, Chemical Nuptuals, 1948. Private collection, Switzerland. To side, Giorgio de Chirico, The Child’s Brain, 1914. Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Opposite page, top, left, Dorothea Tanning, The Magical Game of the Flowers, 1941, private collection, South Dakota; right, Paul Delvaux, The Call of the Night, 1938, National Galleries of Scotland. Bottom, Leonora Carrington, Grandma Moorhead’s Aromatic Kitchen, 1975. Charles B. Goddard Center for Visual Performing Arts, Ardmore, Oklahoma
Venice to the German city with an exhibition curated by Daniel Zamani and around twenty more works (from 22 October 2022 to 29 January 2023). Lovers of Surrealism can also enjoy another exhibition, one with a special focus on the movement’s international aspect - Surrealism Beyond Borders at Tate Modern presents over 150 paintings, sculptures, photos and films (until 29 August). The show, which covers a period of sixty years and fifty countries, is the result of a collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of New York. More famous artists are accompanied by figures that until now have been less well-known, at least to the wider public – artists such as Antonio Berni, active in Paris and Argentina in the 1930s, 112
113
[ ART ON BOARD ] Courtesy Galeria Sur
© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2022
Images from the Surrealism Beyond Borders exhibition at Tate Modern. Left, René Magritte, Time Transfixed, 1938, The Art Institute of Chicago, Joseph Winterbotham Collection, 1970.426. Above, Antonio Berni, Landru en el hotel, Paris 1932, private collection. Below: left, Salvador Dalí, Lobster Telephone, 1938, Tate purchased 1981; right, Koga Harue, Umi (The Sea), 1929, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Koga Harue: Photo: MOMAT/DNPartcom
© Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation/DACS, London 2022
and Toshiko Okanoue, who worked in Japan in the 1950s and the
and Jung Haechang, or in New Zealand with the experimental films
Art et Liberté group in Cairo. Surrealism took on different tones and
of Len Lye. Evidence of how this movement took root in a variety of
intentions – pioneering photographers in Korea like Limb Eung-Sik
periods and places, inspiring and uniting artists from all over the world.
114