Surrealism: The Conjured Life
Museum of Contemporary Art
Chicago
Chicago
Chicago collectors brought the European visual arts aspect of Surrealism to their hometown. Joseph and Jory Shapiro and Edwin and Lindy Bergman traveled to Europe, where they met members of the Surrealist group including Paul Delvaux, Matta, and Magritte, piquing their interest in this “art of the irrational.” Mary and Earle Ludgin collected in depth the works of eccentric American painter Forrest Bess. These arts patrons were among the founders of the MCA, and when the museum began collecting in the mid-1970s, they donated major works by those we now consider “classical” Surrealists, forming an early and continuing collection strength.
Balthus (Count Balthazar Klossowski de Rola) Swiss, b. France, 1908–2001 Two Young Girls 1949 Oil on board 27 1/2 × 29 1/2 in. (69.9 × 74.9 cm) Gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro 1998.33
These artworks also proved inspirational to generations of Chicago-based artists, from the immediate postwar group dubbed the Monster Roster to the Hairy Who and others, a further expression of the continuing lure of “the conjured life” that results in strange, often magical, and sometimes disturbing, imagery.
Max Ernst French, b. Germany 1891–1976 Red Owl 1952 Oil on canvas Canvas: 41 3/8 × 47 7/16 in. (105.1 × 120.5 cm); frame: 50 × 56 1/8 × 1 3/4 in. (127 × 142.6 × 4.4 cm) Gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro 1998.38
Though often framed as a largely historical movement, the freedom afforded by Surrealism to explore both formal issues—including experimenting with new materials and techniques—and personal expression has continued to inspire artists to the present day. Thus besides presenting works by the founders of the movement, the surrealist tendency is traced in two other groupings: Surrealist-related works from the 1950s to the present, and Chicago connections.
Yves Tanguy American, b. French 1900–1955 Untitled (The Fluidity of Time) 1930 Oil on canvas Sight: 39 × 31 5/8 in. (99 × 80.3 cm); frame: 47 1/8 × 39 5/8 × 2 5/8 in. (119.7 × 100.6 × 6.7 cm) Gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro 1998.41
Artists including Balthus, Leonora Carrington, and Dorothea Tanning round out the presentation of the classical Surrealists. Major international contemporary artists such as Lee Bontecou, Mark Grotjahn, Wangechi Mutu, Cindy Sherman, and Francesca Woodman represent the stylistically diverse Surrealist-related grouping. Chicago-based artists on view include Gertrude Abercrombie, Leon Golub, Jim Nutt, Christina Ramberg, and H. C. Westermann.
The exhibition highlights one of the most traditional values in the visual arts: looking. All of the artworks that populate The Conjured Life bear close scrutiny, both in observing and exploring the subject matter and noting the various visual strategies and formal means, from the straightforward representation of Magritte to the low-relief plaster technique of Max Ernst; from the shamanistic deer skin, wood, and felt used by Jimmie Durham to the full-size rubber life raft cast in bronze by Jeff Koons.
The exhibition is curated by Lynne Warren, Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
