Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1455237
E i g h t y - s i x y e a r s after she crafted the world's most perfect emblem of Surrealism — a disquieting, visceral teacup, saucer and spoon enveloped in Chinese gazelle fur — Meret Oppenheim (1913- 1985) is as in-step with our time as the object she created in 1936. An encounter with the Surrealists — Max Ernst, Man Ray, Jean Arp — altered not only her life, but art history. Menil associate curator Natalie Dupêcher, joined by Kunstmuseum Bern director Nina Zimmer and Anne Umland, Museum of Modern Art senior curator, has been on the artist's trail for four years now. See the result this month when "Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition," unveils at the Menil. While that singular cup-and-saucer is too fragile to travel from MoMA (which owns the sculptural object), Menil visitors will encounter equally startling Oppenheim assemblages such as a trussed-up pair of white lady's heels, plated to resemble a fowl served upon a silver dish. Fur Gloves with Wooden Fingers, 1936, conjures equally intense emotion. Oppenheim's work, says Dupêcher, is about "how putting things together makes a completely spectacularly other object. There's a kind of enchantment going on there." "Meret Oppenheim: My Exhibition," at The Menil Collection March 25 – September 18, menil.org. Catherine D. Anspon OBSESSION Margrit Baumann's Meret Oppenheim in her Studio, 1982 Clockwise from center left: Meret Oppenheim's Hm-hm, 1969 Object (Objet), 1936 Sitting Figure with Folded Hands (Sitzende Figur mit verschränkten Fingern), 1933 Under the Raincloud (Unter der Regenwolke), 1961-1964 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: KUNSTMUSEUM BERN; BERNISCHE STIFTUNG FÜR FOTO, FILM UND VIDEO © MARGRIT BAUMANN. MOMA, NYC; © 2022, MOMA, NYC; PHOTO WRONN. KUNSTMUSEUM BERN, MERET OPPENHEIM BEQUEST; © ARS, NYC / PRO LITTERIS, ZURICH. HERMANN UND MARGRIT RUPF FOUNDATION; KUNSTMUSEUM BERN; © ARS, NYC / PRO LITTERIS, ZURICH. PRIVATE COLLECTION, BERN; © ARS, NYC / PRO LITTERIS, ZURICH. 102