MONSTER BRAINS

Unica Zürn
"In 1953 she met surrealist painter Hans Bellmer in Berlin. She would become his partner and model.

Together with Hans Bellmer, Unica Zürn frequented surrealist circles and befriended people such as Man Ray, André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Henri Michaux and Max Ernst. From 1957 onwards she suffered from depression and was treated at various clinics in France. One of her doctors was Gaston Ferdière, a friend of the surrealists, who was also psychiatrist to Antonin Artaud. Her illness inspired much of her writing, above all Der Mann im Jasmin, written between 1963 and 1965.

She killed herself in 1970 by jumping out of the window of the apartment she shared with Bellmer." quote taken from here.

Here is a description of the strange creatures found in the artwork of Unica Zürn. "Several drawings depict forms that have the amorphous shapes of sea life such as hydras and jellyfish. The creatures are highly adorned and display multiple human eyes, like spots on a peacock feather, as they trail folds of diaphanous flesh. Other sheets feature tight, springy, insectlike elements that sport bent antennae, rigid limbs or vertebrae, and dried wings, but appear to be simply playfully decorative lines as much as living creatures. Still others seem to show one animal combined with another, less a melding of the two than a trapping of one being within another." quote taken from here.


Be sure to downoad this pdf file of a past exhibit with over 70 works by Unica.
2nd Gallery
3rd Gallery
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