Search Results

Title

Mandolin Woman (Femme-mandoline), Plate IV, from "Transmutations"

Artist

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Physical Description

A highly abstracted photographic composition in which the viewer catches glimpses of a female nude seen in the stomach at center and the keyhole glimpse of a breast to the viewer's right; the overall composition is dark with patterned, textured overlapping fabrics

Artist Life Dates

1899 - 1984

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

1934-1935; printed 1967

Accession Number

1971/2.150.4

Medium and Support

clichés-verre on paper

Primary Keywords

abstraction

biomorphic abstraction

clichès-verre

mandolins

musical instruments

nudes

surrealism

surrealist

women

Title

Young Girl Dreaming (Jeune fille rêvant), Plate IX, from "Transmutations"

Artist

Brassaï (Gyula Halász)

Physical Description

A female figure reclines on a divan on her side with her back toward the viewer; Beneath the divan the dark background is lined with a diamond patterning. Behind the figure are textures suggesting pillows or other textiles.

Artist Life Dates

1899 - 1984

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

1934-1935; printed 1967

Accession Number

1971/2.150.9

Medium and Support

clichés-verre on paper

Primary Keywords

abstraction

beds (furniture)

biomorphic abstraction

clichès-verre

dreams

girls

guitars

musical instruments

nudes

reclining

surrealism

surrealist

Title

Janus Bird (Oiseau Janus)

Artist

Max Ernst

Physical Description

Standing bronze figure with recto/verso. The silhouette of the body is rectangular in shape. The heads on both side are simply rendered with rounded eyes and a pursed -lip mouth on one, a button nose on the other; bodies are supported by short legs; sides loosely suggest representations of male and female anatomy with side-by-side scallop shells suggesting a breasted chest on one side, an upward facing frog/toad in the phallus area on the reverse side.

Artist Life Dates

1891-1976

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

1973

Accession Number

1987/1.160

Medium and Support

bronze

Primary Keywords

birds

bronze (metal)

ducks

figures (representations)

frogs

sculpture

shells

surrealism

surrealist

turtles

Title

At the Crossroads (En Rade)

Artist

Max Ernst

Physical Description

Three birds, executed with spare line and simple form, are set within an abstracted landscape of bright yellows and oranges.

Artist Life Dates

1891 - 1976

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

1955

Accession Number

1983/1.414

Medium and Support

oil on canvas

Primary Keywords

abstract

abstraction

birds

oil painting

sky

sunlight

surrealism

surrealist

Title

Study for 'Image in Xhorkom'

Artist

Arshile Gorky

Physical Description

Black and white drawing of organic forms vaguely resembling human figures flowing into one another in a room-like space. On the right hand side of the grouping stands the most recognizably humanoid figure.

Artist Life Dates

1904 - 1948

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

circa 1936

Accession Number

1964/2.41

Medium and Support

graphite and tempera on off-white laid paper

Primary Keywords

armenia

armenia (historical region)

biomorphic abstraction

childhood

families

figures (representations)

memory

preparatory drawings

surrealism

surrealist

Title

The Student (L'Etudiante)

Artist

Gerome Kamrowski

Physical Description

On a narrow canvas a background of overlapping, rounded segments of blues, grays, and greens suggests rock. These layers build up to warmer colors, and on the surface of the layers are several shapes executed in white line suggestive of cave-painting. The shapes looks like microscopic organisms and are connected by the nerve-like white lines. As a whole, the visual elements are also suggestive of a seated figure, and the white shapes then appear as organs.

Artist Life Dates

1914 - 2004

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

1950

Accession Number

1975/1.77

Medium and Support

oil on canvas

Primary Keywords

abstraction

biomorphic abstraction

figures (representations)

oil painting

spirituality

surrealism

surrealist

Title

Girl with French Loaves

Artist

Chet LaMore

Physical Description

Highly abstracted figure with oval body, short straight legs, and a large mushroom shaped head with a crude, wide-mouthed face. Between the body and head are two horizontal bars that are slightly longer than the width of the head. The sculpture is quite flat, and the bronze has a molten look.

Artist Life Dates

1908-1980

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

1959

Accession Number

1981/2.111

Medium and Support

bronze

Primary Keywords

bread

bronze (metal)

bronzes

figures (representations)

girls

surrealism

surrealist

Title

Illuminated Landscape

Artist

Chet LaMore

Physical Description

Nocturnal scene with landscape populated by otherworldly pink, green, and blue flora and fauna resembling marine life or celestial bodies.

Artist Life Dates

1908-1980

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

1948

Accession Number

1982/1.199

Medium and Support

casein on board

Primary Keywords

abstraction

landscapes

landscapes (environments)

night

plants

surrealism

surrealist

Title

Untitled (Head)

Artist

Michael Lucero

Physical Description

White earthenware “sleeping” head lying on its right cheek (right ear omitted to lay flat) with a geometric section of crown removed. The cut at the head is painted terra cotta, the cut at the neck painted with a landscape of a tree at the edge of a cliff. A forest scene set against pink mountains covers the face, and desert rock formations in silhouette cover the back of the head.

Artist Life Dates

(1953 - )

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

circa 1985

Accession Number

2008/2.245

Medium and Support

glazes on white earthenware

Primary Keywords

ceramics

deserts

dreams

faces

forests

landscapes (representations)

mountains

sleeping

surrealist

trees

Title

Bounded on the West by the Land Under Water

Artist

Kay Sage

Physical Description

Four spare industrial structures rise at different angles into an empty landscape. On the viewer's right, a scaffolding rises from the lower corner and angles to the left. On the left, another scaffold structure runs from the bottom corner along the left edge. In the middle, a building-like structure rises from the bottom of the composition and leans into the visual space, resting on a long rectangular solid that is draped with a cloth.

Artist Life Dates

1898 - 1963

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

1946

Accession Number

1963/2.1

Medium and Support

oil on canvas

Primary Keywords

abstraction

industrial buildings

industrial complexes

industrial landscapes

landscapes

oil painting

scaffolds

surrealism

surrealist

tower

towers (single built works)

water

Title

Growing Forms

Artist

David Smith

Physical Description

A roughly teardrop-shaped sculpture of shiny cast aluminum. Within the basic organic shape are several curls and a shape that appears to be a woman or perhaps a fetus. The sculpture sits atop a tall wooden base composed of a stack of fat disc shapes.

Artist Life Dates

1906-1965

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

1939

Accession Number

1980/1.213A

Medium and Support

cast aluminum on wood base

Primary Keywords

biomorphic abstraction

births

figures (representations)

growth

metal

sculpture

surrealist

Title

Cactus

Artist

Graham Sutherland

Physical Description

Three forms that are simulatenously organic and sculptural stand in a line. At their base they appear sculptural or vessel-like, but further up they become more organic and cactus-like in their form. The table and background are yellow. The forms are executed mostly with white, off-white, and gray.

Artist Life Dates

1903 - 1980

Century

20th century

Object Creation Date

1950

Accession Number

1954/2.39

Medium and Support

oil on canvas

Primary Keywords

abstraction

biomorphic abstraction

cacti

growth

oil painting

still lifes

surrealism

surrealist