A melange of objects by Meret Oppenheim, including paintings, assemblages, sculptures, drawings (jewelry, prints, and performance) on display at the Swiss artist’s retrospective in New York at the Museum of Modern Art. November 2022.
Visitors to the Museum of Modern Art in New York will be amazed to see an incredible, imaginative world opened up to them through the just-opened Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition, which covers six decades of Oppenheim’s career and features hundreds of objects. The Swiss artist (1913-1985) is undoubtedly best known (if at all) for her Surrealist “Object” (often referred to as the “Fur-lined Teacup” for obvious reasons), which was produced in 1936, when Oppenheim was in her early 20s and living a bohemian existence in Paris. This small, sensational work, made of luxurious fur (sorry PETA, it was a different time) applied to an everyday cup, saucer, and spoon, was acquired early on by MoMA. Though many in 1930s America were not aware of the name of the maker, the artist’s “object” caused quite a stir and even came to emblematize the concept of Surrealist assemblages creatively juxtaposing unlikely items and ideas to elicit frisson, and often attraction/repulsion simultaneously. Oppenheim nailed it!
But as MoMA’s expansive show clearly demonstrates, Oppenheim was - and created - so much more than this “infamous” piece alone. The artist continually mined her psyche and reinvented herself, radically transforming images and ideas, collaborating with other younger artists, and experimenting across media (including performance) - with originality, humor, and aplomb until the day she died.
“Nobody will give you freedom,” the artist proclaimed, “you have to take it”. And she did.