Thursday, April 17, 2014

O = Oppenheim, Méret, Surrealist - A to Z Challenge

ART: Artists, Art Trivia, Art Legends

A glimpse of the ART world, in the manner of an alphabetical mini-art tour. ART focuses on artists and art movements between the 1850s-1960s. There are exceptions.





2014 A to Z April Blog Challenge


O = Oppenheim, Méret
1913 - 1985
Surrealist and Photographer


Méret Elisabeth Oppenheim was a German born-Swiss, Surrealist artist, and photographer. Born in Berlin, she became part of the 1920s Surrealist movement along with André Breton, Luis Buñuel, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, and other writers and visual artists.

Oppenheim was also inspired by her aunt, Ruth Wenger, and her devotion to art and her modern lifestyle. Ruth was an attractive young singer, at one time married to Herman Hesse, a German writer, poet, novelist and painter.
 
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There are restrictions on use of the images, so please click the links to see the images.


Object: Breakfast in Fur - 1936, Surrealistic tea set; (Object - Le Déjeuner en fourrure )


Negative of X-Ray of Meret Oppenheim’s Skull - A different kind of self-portrait by Meret using new technology of her time; 1964



In 1932, Oppenheim moved to Paris at the impressionable age of 18, occasionally attending the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere.  In 1933, Hans Arp and Alberto Giacometti invited her to participate in the Surrealist exhibition, the “Salon des Surindépendants'. In 1936, Oppenheim had her first solo exhibition in Switzerland. She continued to contribute to Surrealist exhibitions until 1960.

Méret Oppenheim created art objects, and also appeared as a model for photographs by Man Ray, aka Emmanuel Radnitzky, 1890 – 1976, an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. He was an important contributor to the Dada and Surrealist art movements. He was a fashion and portrait photographer. Ray is also known for his photograms, or as he calls them, 'rayograms'.

Méret died at 72, in 1985. She kept careful notes about which patrons and colleagues were favored and determined where her work should go. The archives and artwork are now managed by several venerable libraries and institutions in Bern.
 
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Do you know who Méret Oppenheim was? Have you ever seen surrealist objects in an exhibition? (Things are not what they seem)

Do you like surrealist paintings? Surrealist objects?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here, and thanks for dropping by! I'll respond.

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Brought to you by the A to Z Blog Challenge 2014 Team and the originator: Lee of Tossing it Out. Click the A to Z list of participants and read on. Hope to see you again throughout the blogfest.

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References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9ret_Oppenheim Meret Oppenheim
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M%C3%A9ret_Oppenheim_Object.jpg Breakfast in Fur

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Ray Man Ray wiki

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