More MoMA

It must have been difficult for a woman this beautiful to have been taken seriously as an artist.  

1943 

But Meret Oppenheim was blessed--and cursed--to have created an iconic Surrealistic work early in her career that pretty much has defined her ever since.  It's so unforgettable that Alfred Barr, the original director of MoMA, purchased it immediately for the collection.

Object (1936)

Many of the works on view in "My Exhibition" at the Museum of Modern Art have never been seen outside her native Switzerland.  She was really on a roll with her sculptures before World War II, most of which comment sardonically on the female condition.

"My Nurse" (1936)

"Fur Gloves with Wooden Fingers" (1936)

Oppenheim painted, too, albeit not as memorably.

"Music at Home" (1930)

"Some of the Uncounted Faces of Beauty" (1942)

"Daphne & Apollo" (1943)

The instant success of "Object," World War II--she was Jewish--and a bout of depression that lasted nearly two decades stopped her cold although she earned her living as an art conservator.  When her mental health and self-confidence finally improved, she returned to form.

"Beginning of Spring" (1961)

"Flower in Venetian Garden" (1962)

"Profile" (1964)

"Octavia" (1969)

"Octavia" (close-up)

"Planet's Orbit" (1976)

"Curtain" (1978)

The retrospective is especially gratifying because the curators were inspired by Oppenheim's own vision of what it should include.  "Nobody will give you freedom," she declared in 1975 a decade before her death.  "You have to take it."

1985

After Wolfgang Tillmans and Meret Oppenheim, I had just enough time to take in "Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces" which pays tribute to a gallery space operated by Linda Goode Bryant, a heretofore unheralded African American woman.  From 1975 to 1986--for as long as she could afford it--Bryant showcased the vibrant work of her community.  

"Mercedes & Vincent" by Valerie Maynard (1970)

"We Four in Paris" by Palmer Hayden (1930)

"George Jackson & St. Joan of Arc" by Randy Williams (1984)

"Ritual" by Janet Olivia Henry (1982-83)