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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M = Magritte, René - A to Z Blog 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 1850's-1960's. There are exceptions.

M = Magritte, Rene
1898 - 1967
Surrealist


A model steam engine coming out of the fireplace, or a faceless suit in the mirror?
Sound familiar? You could be having surreal dreams.


René François Ghislain Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist, well known for a number of thought-provoking Surrealist images. He combined ordinary objects in an unusual context. Magritte's work is known for challenging observers' preconditioned perceptions. His paintings have been frequently 'adapted' or plagiarized in advertisements, posters, book covers, etc. As a result, there are specific restrictions on his images.

Links to his paintings and the artist below.

Little is known of Magritte's early life. He started drawing lessons in 1910, two years before his mother committed suicide by drowning. The constant references to illusion and reality in his painting has been linked to his mother's death in 1912, when he was a young boy. 

Two artists who fell under Magritte's spell were: Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns. There were many others. Popular interest in Magritte's work increased in the 1960's, as did his influence on POP, Minimalist and Conceptual art.

René Magritte died of cancer, August 1967 at the age of 68, in his own bed. He is interred in a cemetery in Brussels. The Magritte Museum opened to the public in May 2009 in Brussels. Located in the Hotel Altenloh on the Place Royale, it displays some 200 original Magritte paintings, drawings and sculptures. Another museum dedicated to the artist is also located in Brussels, in Magritte's former home.

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The Artist
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Magritte


Links. . .due to artists or estate copyrights still in effect. 


The Treachery of Images
Caption: "Ceci n'est pas une pipe.", Fr. for "This is not a pipe." painted in 1929.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Treachery_of_Images


Time Transfixed, one of many created for surrealist patron and Magritte supporter Edward James, in 1938.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Transfixed

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Surrealism is a cultural movement, beginning in the early 1920s, and is best remembered for its visual artworks and writings. Their mission: to 'resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality.'

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Are you a fan of Surrealism or of René Magritte? Do you think psychological damage can be caused by traumatic events in early life?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here! I'll respond and visit back.

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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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