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Surrealism: The Conjured Life

Images

Two creatures with human legs and fish heads nestle together while seated on a stone by the seashore.

René Magritte, Les merveilles de la nature (The Wonders of Nature), 1953. Oil on canvas. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro, 1982.48. © 2015 C, Herscovici/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York

Photo © MCA Chicago

Christina Ramberg, Muscular Alternative, 1979. Oil on canvas; panel: 47 ¼ x 35 ¼ in. (120 x 89.5 cm), framed: 49 x 27 ½ in. (124.5 x 95.2 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, bequest of Sandra Jorgensen, 1999.25. © 1979 Christina Ramberg

Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Paul Delvaux, Penelope, 1945. Oil on board; sight: 47 7/8 x 47 1/2 in. (121.6 x 120.6 cm), framed: 53 1/2 x 53 3/8 in. (135.9 x 135.6 cm). Collection of Museum Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro, 1998.36. © 2015 Foundation Paul Delvaux, Sint-Idesbald – ARS/SABAM Belgium

Photo © MCA Chicago

Forrest Bess, Wheatfield, c. 1951. Oil on canvas; panel: 11 3/8 x 13 1/2 x 1 3/16 in. (28.9 x 34.3 x 3 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Mary and Earle Ludgin Collection, 1981.28

Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Wangechi Mutu, That’s My Death Mask You’re Wearing, 2004. Ink, collage, and contact paper on Mylar; sheet: 39 1/4 x 27 13/16 in. (99.7 x 70.6 cm), framed: 41 3/4 x 30 3/8 in. (106.1 x 77.2 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Sara Szold, 2014.40

Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Ed Paschke, Sunburn, 1970. Oil on canvas; 27 7/8 x 37 15/16 in. (70.8 x 96.4 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Muriel and Albert Newman in honor of Dennis Adrian, 1982.17

Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

About

Surrealism: The Conjured Life presents more than 100 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and photographs that demonstrate the deep currents that Surrealism sent through the international art world—and especially through Chicago—since its emergence in the first half of the twentieth century. A global movement that encompassed a wide number of art forms, including film, theater, poetry, and literature, Surrealism came of age with poet André Breton's formal declaration in 1924. This deeply emotional and psychological art form flourished in the 1930s and 1940s—turbulent times of economic instability, rapidly changing social mores, and war.

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. 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.

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. 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.

The exhibition is presented in the Sylvia Neil and Daniel Fischel Galleries on the museum’s second floor.

Installation Images

Visitors take in art in a gallery on the MCA's second floor.

Visitors viewing Surrealism: The Conjured Life, MCA Chicago, Nov 21, 2015–Jun 5, 2016

Photo: Adrian Gaut
A person wearing a hoodie and beanie faces six small and medium sized paintings on a gallery wall.

Visitors viewing Surrealism: The Conjured Life, MCA Chicago, Nov 21, 2015–Jun 5, 2016

Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Visitors viewing Surrealism: The Conjured Life, MCA Chicago, Nov 21, 2015–Jun 5, 2016

Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
Several visitors look at paintings and sculpture in a gallery whose curvilinear walls draw viewers closer to its center.

Visitors viewing Surrealism: The Conjured Life, MCA Chicago, Nov 21, 2015–Jun 5, 2016

Photo: Adrian Gaut

Visitors viewing Surrealism: The Conjured Life, MCA Chicago, Nov 21, 2015–Jun 5, 2016

Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Installation view, Surrealism: The Conjured Life, MCA Chicago, Nov 21, 2015–Jun 5, 2016. Work shown: Enrico Baj, Punching General, 1969. Vinyl, metal, cloth, ribbon, foam, cord, wood, Bristol board, medals, coil, curtain hooks, spring, and acrylic; 69 7/8 x 42 3/4 x 19 15/16 in. (177.5 x 108.6 x 50.6 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Joseph and Jory Shapiro, 1992.49

Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago
A surreal painting shows a purple human head attached to a yellow hive-like structure.

Installation view, Surrealism: The Conjured Life, MCA Chicago, Nov 21, 2015–Jun 5, 2016. Work shown: Ken Warneke, The Tyranny of Everyday Life, 1990. Oil and acrylic on Masonite; panel: 41 3/4 x 35 3/4 in. (106 x 90.8 cm). Collection Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, gift of Mr. and Mrs. M. A. Lipschultz, Mr. and Mrs. E.A. Bergman, Nathan Cummings, Grace and Edwin Hokin, and Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Feigen by exchange, 1991.24

Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Visitors viewing Surrealism: The Conjured Life, MCA Chicago, Nov 21, 2015–Jun 5, 2016

Photo: Adrian Gaut

In Memoriam

The MCA staff is deeply saddened by the passing of Howard Stone (1930–2015). Howard and his wife, Donna, generously supported the MCA and donated more than 90 works of art to the MCA's collection, including the three Francesca Woodman photographs included in this exhibition. We remember Howard with fondness and gratitude.

Funding

Support for Surrealism: The Conjured Life is generously provided by The Pritzker Traubert Collection Exhibition Fund, Helen and Sam Zell, Carol and Douglas Cohen, Carolyn S. Bucksbaum, Anonymous, Betsy and Andrew Rosenfield, Richard and Ellen Sandor Family, and Mary E. Ittelson.