19/01/2022
“Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition” opens at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas before making its way to the MoMA in October. The first retrospective in the U.S. in over twenty-five years, the exhibition includes work over the impressive output of Oppenheim’s five decade career (1913-1985).
The Menil explains her “thematic interests as equally diverse, ranging from the natural world and mythology to gender and self hood. Her practice defies neat categorizations of style, medium, and historical movement. “Nobody will give you freedom,” she stated in 1975, “you have to take it.”
1. Meret Oppenheim, New Stars (Neue Sterne), 1977–82. Oil on canvas, 6 ft. 8 11/16 x 8 ft. 1 13/16 in. (205 x 248.5 cm). Kunstmuseum Bern. Meret Oppenheim Bequest.
2. Meret Oppenheim, Fur Gloves with Wooden Fingers (Pelzhandschuhe), 1936. Fur, wood, and nail polish, 2 x 8 1/4 x 3 7/8 in. (5 x 21 x 10 cm). Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland.
3. Meret Oppenheim, Quick, Quick, the Most Beautiful Vowel is Voiding (Husch-husch, der schönste Vokal entleert sich), on recto M.E. par M.O./M.E. by M.O., 1934. Oil on canvas, 17 15/16 x 25 5/8 in. (45.5 x 65 cm). Bürgi Collection, Bern.
4. Meret Oppenheim, Six Clouds on a Bridge (Sechs Wolken auf einer Brücke), 1975. Bronze,18 7/16 x 24 x 6 1/8 in. (46.8 x 61 x 15.5 cm). Kunstmuseum Bern. Meret Oppenheim Bequest.
5. Meret Oppenheim, Sitting Figure with Folded Hands (Sitzende Figur mit verschränkten Fingern), 1933. Oil on cardboard in artist’s frame, 23 7/8 x 17 1/8 in. (60.6 x 43.5 cm). Kunstmuseum Bern. Meret Oppenheim Bequest.
6. Meret Oppenheim, Primeval Venus (Urzeit- Venus), 1962. Painted terracotta with glazed straw, 20 7/8 x 10 1/4 x 7 1/2 in. (53 x 26 x 19 cm). Kunstmuseum Solothurn, Switzerland. Purchase with funds from the Jubilee Foundation of the Swiss Bank Corporation.
7. Meret Oppenheim, Ma gouvernante – My Nurse – Mein Kindermädchen, 1936/1967. Metal plate, shoes, string, and paper, 5 1/2 x 13 x 8 1/4 in. (14 x 33 x 21 cm). Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
1-7. Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Pro Litteris, Zurich