Sayonara to Philadelphia's super surrealist show

The Philadelphia Museum of Art/photo by Patricia Leslie

It's not too late to get on the train and head north to Philadelphia to celebrate Surrealism and admire the tremendous creativity of 70 artists and 200 works in Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100 closing Presidents' Day, this Monday. 

Giorgio de Chirico's Portrait of Guillaume Apollinaire, 1914, Apollinaire, a poet and critic and the first to describe the artist as an unusual breed. Apollinaire coined the term "Surrealist" to describe his own absurdist stage play.

Kay Sage, Unicorns Came Down to the Sea, 1948

Dorothea Tanning, Birthday, 1948. Not a very happy one, was it? Here Ms. Tanning presents herself in 1700s sorceress's apparel with tiny humans on her skirt. Doors open to the wonderful avenues of Surrealism. According to the label copy, Max Ernst suggested the title, Birthday. 

Enrico Donati, The Evil Eye, 1947, made of painted plaster, acrylic sheet, copper wire, mirrors, and glass, positioned high above other works at the museum's exhibition. 

From Art and Antiques:  Evil Eye (1947), a gruesome orb embedded in flesh, mounted on a glossy black box with circular mirrors and trailing a tuft of electrical wires. With these objects, which could be props in a horror movie, Donati strayed, rather effectively, into more conventionally Surrealist territory—ironically at the very moment when Surrealism was on the verge of coming to an end as an organized movement. 

Donati is sometimes called "the last Surrealist." 

A side glance at Donati's Evil Eye

Philadelphia's Museum of Art (old name, now newly reestablished new old name) is the only place in the U.S. to see the huge show, after its successful world tour and landings in Brussels, Hamburg, Paris, and Madrid.

Remedios Varo, Icon, 1945. The ascending staircase symbolizes the link between the heavens and Earth, according to the label, with a circle at the top reflecting the teachings of the Armenian philosopher and mystic George Gurdjieff.

Remedios Varo, Celestial Pablum, 1958

Jacques Herold, The Great Transparent One, 1971 (replica of 1947 original) made from bronze, mirror and quartz crystal. In 2005 it sold at Christie's for 22,200 euros or $26,418 in today's dollars.

Victor Brauner, Self-Portrait, 1931. Be careful of what you wish for...or think about. Mr. Brauner drew this seven years before he lost an eye in an accident.  He said all his paintings  had an autobiographical link.

Jackson Pollock, Male and Female, 1943-43. The label copy says it brings the two opposites together.

A "content warning" at the entrance to this gallery says it contains sexually explicit images which some may want to skip...and where some may want to linger/photo by Patricia Leslie

Wolfgang Paalen, Articulated Cloud, 2023 replica of 1937 original, consisting of an umbrella covered in sponges, the opposite functions of each. In Mexico City in 1940, Mr. Paalen and Andre Breton organized the first surrealists' exhibition, "International Exhibition of Surrealism," where Mr. Paalen became friends with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Two years later Mr. Paalen broke with the movement in a "biting" farewell.

Wolfgang Paalen, The Exact Time, 1939-40 consisting of glass eyes, oil, and feathers on wood

What is Surrealism?  

There are about as many definitions as works presented here, but it is not observable realism, but dreams (some artists drawing on Freud's findings), absurdity, the unreal, mental happenings and turmoil.  

Nothing happy about it.  Rather like our world today. (Dreams aren't always negative.)

Frida Kahlo, My Grandparents, My Parents, and I, 1936. Andre Breton thought Ms. Kahlo's work was "an authentic expression of surreality" rooted in Mexico's history and culture. He was first introduced to Ms. Kahlo on a 1938 trip he took to Mexico to meet Leon Trotsky.

In the galleries at the Philadelphia Museum of Art/photo by Patricia Leslie

Rene Magritte, The Secret Double, 1927 seems to show that behind every face is mystery and turmoil. For this work, the "experts" say the artist's mother's death may have impacted him.

Salvador Dali, The First Days of Spring, 1929.  Dali's works are easy to spot, like this one when he moved to Paris from Catalonia and "officially" joined the Surrealists in 1929, according to the label. Amidst a vast wasteland Dali portrays Sigmund Freud's description of childhood sexual initiation and guilt.

Max Ernst, The Forest, 1923. The National Galleries of Scotland says Ernst painted a series of forests to capture his feelings of awe and terror at age three when first seeing one in person one near Cologne. 

In the galleries at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Here is Giorgio de Chirico's The Soothsayer's Recompense, 1913 with an abandoned Ariadne and Theseus's departing train from the island of Naxos, a work Wikipedia says inspired Philip Guston to become a painter/photo by Patricia Leslie

The original surrealist art developed after World War I responding to the horrible effects of war. The movement lasted about 40 years and originally centered in Paris before it spread around the globe.

Many consider Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450 - 1516) and Italian Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593) to be surrealist harbingers.  

What: Dreamworld: Surrealism at 100

When: Thursday - Monday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; open until 8:45 p.m., Friday. 

Where: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia 19130

How much:  Adults, $35; Seniors, $33; Students, $19

For more information:  215-763-8100

patricialesli@gmail.com

Italian embassy celebrates Futurism with Depero

Depero Fortunato, "Women of the Tropics," 1945, oil on panel, Studio 53 Arte, Rovereto 

 

Depero Fortunato, "Harlem Mulatto," 1945, charcoal and white lead on cardboard, Studio 53 Arte, Rovereto

Some of the figures remind me of Guy Fawkes's mask and robots, precursors to today.

Rather scary, haunting creatures, lacking human depth.

It may be only the second exhibition of Futurist's Fortunato Depero's works in the United States (the first I found was in Miami in 2024), and what better place to show off an Italian artist than at Washington's Embassy of Italy, the country and place of the movement's birth?

Depero:  Graphic Art Between Italy & United States highlights Futurism, Italy’s early 20th-century avant-garde movement which focused on speed, modernity, and bold visual language, says Wikipedia (you know:  elements of the future!) 

Depero Fortunato, "Ballerina Meccanica (Mechanical Dancer)," 1916/26, collage on cardboard, Studio 53 Arte, Rovereto 

 Depero Fortunato, "Citrus," 1928 advertising poster, Archivio Depero, Rovereto. I can almost taste the drink, looking at the poster.

Depero Fortunato, "Bitter Campari, L'Aperitivo," 1928, advertising poster, Archivio Depero, Rovereto. Depero had a longstanding relationship with the Campari Company when he designed Campari Soda bottles. 

 Depero Fortunato, "Caffe' Cirio, 'Domus' Magazine Back Cover," 1936, Archivio Depero, Rovereto

At the opening of the Depero show at the Embassy of Italy, Sept. 9 2026/By Patricia Leslie 

Italian Ambassador  to the U.S., Marco Peronaci, welcomed visitors to the opening of the exhibition which is up through January 30, 2026:

 “Depero was also a bridge between Italy and the United States: this exhibition highlights the deep interweaving that has fueled mutual cross-pollination and cultural dialogue between our two countries in the last century and beyond."

Depero Fortunato, "L'Aperitivo. Bitter Campari," 1927, project for billboard, tempera on cardboard, private collection, Rovereto

Depero Fortunato, "Lettrice E Ricamatrice Automatiche (Automatic Reader and Embroiderer)," 1920-22, oil on canvas, private collection, Rovereto

Depero Fortunato, "Big Sale (Downtown Market)," 1929-1930, oil on canvas, private collection, Rovereto

Depero Fortunato, "Grammofono Gramophone," 1924, advertising project, pencil on paper,  Archivio Depero, Rovereto

Marco Peronaci, Italy's ambassador to the United States, welcomed guests to the Embassy of Italy and the opening of Depero:  Graphic Art Between Italy & United States Sept. 9, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

The Futurists painted, they sculpted, made ceramics, and created designs for every production realm; they are sometimes linked to art deco, surrealism, constructivism and Dada.  

Depero (1892-1960) was one of the founders of the development whose goal was to make the world a more "joyful place," says Wikipedia. 

Inspired by a trip to Florence in 1913 and an article about Futurism, Depero moved to Rome in 1914 and, while designing ballet costumes and stage sets, he co-wrote a Futurist manifesto in 1915  ("Futurist Reconstruction of the Universe") with fellow Futurist Giacomo Balla.

Depero founded the House of Futurist Art in his hometown in Rovereto in 1919 which specialized in making toys, tapestries and furniture. 

To try out his talents in the U.S., Depero moved to New York City in 1928 where the advent of the Great Depression (1929-1939) presented a hostile reception. 

Still, he found work as a costume designer and making covers for Vogue and the New Yorker, helping introduce Futurism to the American public.  He also worked for Macy's.  

The Italian Cultural Institute at the Embassy of Italy writes on its website that Depero thought New York City was the ultimate Futurist city, and the Chrysler Building shows his influence.

He returned home in 1930.

Futurism's links to fascism during World War II shunted its growth among the public.

His move back to New York City in 1947 found an even cooler reception for him than his first visit and he went back home again where he lived long enough to see one of his longtime dreams come true, the opening of his museum in  Rovereto, the year before he died. 

The museum is still open today.

The Depero exhibition may be visited at the Embassy by registering for guided tours organized by the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington. (See below.) 

What:  Depero:  Graphic Art Between Italy & United States

When: Now through Jan. 30, 2026

Where: Embassy of Italy, 3000 Whitehaven Road, NW, Washington, D.C. 20008

How much: No charge.  Tours of the exhibition are available by registering with the Italian Cultural Institute here, but hurry and sign up since few days and times remain for the show!

For more information: ph. 202-612-4400, email: washington.ambasciata@ester.it

A link to the full catalog in digital non-reproducible format may be found here.

The Cultural Affairs Office Embassy of Italy in Washington D.C.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Tire art at the National Gallery of Art

Chakaia Booker (b. 1953), It's So Hard to Be Green, 2000, rubber tires and wood, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 2, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

Chakaia Booker at It's So Hard to Be Green and the opening of her Treading New Ground at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 2, 2025/By Patricia Leslie



Ask anyone in the art world about the sculptor who fashions art from old tires and they'll say her name immediately: Chakaia Booker (b. 1953) who is also a fantastic recycler!

In the Tower of the East Building at the National Gallery of Art, three of her creations are on view in an exhibition named appropriately enough,"Treading New Ground."  It's a "must-see," a wonder and a definite draw for environmentalists.

Detail of Acid Rain, 2001, by Chakaia Booker (b. 1953), rubber tires and wood, loaned by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, at Treading New Ground at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 2, 2025.  You can almost smell these /By Patricia Leslie

Detail of Acid Rain, 2001, by Chakaia Booker (b. 1953), rubber tires and wood, loaned by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, at Treading New Ground at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 2, 2025. This reminds me of handcuffs and the materials ICE uses on immigrants/By Patricia Leslie

Exhibitions made of recycled materials are always an inspiration to me, marveling at the many ways creators can fashion art from most any old thing, producing results for others to see and admire and set us thinking about ways we can do the same to reuse materials and help "save the Earth" and combat climate change at the same time.

Rather than winding up in landfills, tires, which Chakaia repurposes, have extended lifelines, like manufacturers who use them in "rain gardens, roadways, construction materials, and cement manufacturing" to name a few ways the National Gallery cites. 

If you are so inclined, many other uses can be found on the internet for remaking tires, like tire swings, rubber mulch for landscaping, mats, and playground surfaces. (Check here for more. Hmmm, all those Weather-Tech ads you see?  You think its products come from recycled tires? Weather-Tech should consider a commission for Ms. Booker who could become its brand artist.) 

At the opening of her Treading New Ground at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, April 2, 2025, Chakaia Booker's attire included her colorful headdress/By Patricia Leslie

Chakaia Booker's materials for her art works include pieces of old tires from trucks and cars which visitors to the exhibition are invited to touch. The label says 
"we may find beauty and inspiration in an ordinary tire" but I am still looking. At Treading New Ground, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. April 2, 2025/By Patricia Leslie

Walking through the streets of New York in the 1980s, Chakaia noticed abandoned and discarded tires and the spaces they occupied. She considered all the different ways they could be used, and voila!  An art medium was born! 

Her website says she also creates works from stainless steel  for interior and exterior public spaces.  She exhibits all over the world, including the 2000 Whitney Biennial and her works are found in about 50+ museums in the U.S. In 2005 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Did you know that when tires hit the roadways, pollution in the form of tiny particulates containing neurotoxic and carcinogenic compounds that directly endanger the health of both humans and water wildlife are released in the air? So says the National Gallery of Art.

Rather than space ships, EVs, and Republicans, maybe Mr. Musk can wrap his head around making an alternative for our vehicles. Who's working on this?

"My intention is to translate materials into imagery that will stimulate people to consider themselves as a part of their environment, as one piece of a larger whole." Chakaia Booker

Kanitra Fletcher, associate curator of African American and Afro-Diasporic art, curated the exhibition with Claudia Watts, research assistant, both of the National Gallery of Art which organized the show.  Thank you very much, ladies!

What: Chakaia Booker: Treading New Ground

When: Through August 2, 2026, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. seven days a week. Closed on Christmas and New Year's days.

Where: The Tower at the East Building, National Gallery of Art, between 3rd and 4th on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington

How much: Admission is always free at the National Gallery of Art.

Metro stations for the National Gallery of Art:
Smithsonian, Federal Triangle, Navy Memorial-Archives, or L'Enfant Plaza

For more information: (202) 737-4215

Accessibility information: (202) 842-6905


patricialesli@gmail.com

Hurry! 'Mucha' is leaving the Phillips Sunday!

Mucha's studio in Paris, 1896

You may not recognize his name but you'll certainly recognize his art, world famous for decades like his continuing influence on graphic artists and designs of album covers, posters, books and much, much more, many in psychedelic fashion.

Alphonse Mucha, 1897, The Crowd at the Hotel de Ville, Paris, illustrated book. The people were celebrating the friendship between Russia and France and the visit to Paris of Tsar Nicholas II in 1896.  To commemorate the occasion, the nations jointly published a book with Mucha, the commissioned illustrator.

Alphonse Mucha, (Self-Portrait) Sketching in His Munich Apartment, c. 1886

Alphonse Mucha, Goethe and Schiller, 1897

Alphonse Mucha, Sarah Bernhardt: In Honor of Sarah Bernhardt/Her Admirers and Her Friends, 1896. The label copy notes that Mucha made this for an elaborate tribute to Ms. Bernhardt in Paris.

It's ethereal; it's classical.

A few of the musicians and their designer/artists copying and expanding his style include the Rolling Stones, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, and Muddy Waters. 

Alphonse Mucha, Salon des Cent: Twentieth Exhibition, 1896, the exhibition organized by the art journal, La Plume.

Alphonse Mucha, Cover of Hearst's International (May 1922) Published by International Publications, New York 1922

I'm talking Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939; pronounced MOO-ka), Czechoslovakian artist whose 100 plus works the Phillips Collection presents in its outstanding exhibition, Timeless Mucha:  The Magic of Line , organized by themes by the Mucha Foundation and its Tomoko Sata with assistance from the Phillips' Renee Maurer.

Alphonse Mucha, Monaco • Monte-Carlo, 1897, This was commissioned by a railway line to promote "a 16-hour luxury train journey from Paris to Monte Carlo." 

Alphonse Mucha, The Moon and the Stars: Pole Star, 1902 

Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley Jefferson Airplane tour poster, Fillmore Auditorium, November 6, 1966 

During the Art Nouveau period (1890-1910) of which he is most associated,  Mucha lived in Paris where he shared a studio for a while with Paul Gauguin and drew posters of singer Sarah Bernhardt which catapulted him to immediate fame, which was already growing from magazine and book illustrations he drew.

Dean Torrence (Kittyhawk Graphics) Diana Ross And the Supremes Let the Sunshine In, 1969 Cardboard LP sleeve cover

Hapshash & the Coloured Coat—Michael English and Nigel Waymouth, Jimi Hendrix Experience tour poster, Fillmore Auditorium, June 20 –26, 1967 

For Ms. Bernhardt's association, Mucha happened to be "in the right place at the right time" when she searched for an artist over a Christmas break to make a poster for her play, Gismonda, which was enjoying an extended run. 

Mucha was one of the few working over the holidays, and he got the call.

And the accolades, too, from his poster which is in the Phillips' show. (All art borrowed from the Mucha Foundation in Prague.) 

Mucha's work for Ms. Bernhardt continued far beyond Gismonda with designs he made for her theatre sets, costumes, jewelry and programs, many artifacts on display at the Phillips.

The Bernhardt magic touch extended to other retailers. Mucha made posters for trains, advertisements for cigarettes, food, bicycles, champagne, chocolate and many more products, attracting commissions to create beautiful young, idyllic women with flowing hair in long gowns, swirling amidst flowers and nature, his fame growing internationally, and yet he yearned for more.

In 1904 he visited the U.S. for the first time arriving in New York where his fame as Ms. Bernhardt's illustrator preceded him. In his four stays in the U.S., he made portraits, lectured, and taught at the New York School of Applied Design for Women, the Philadelphia School of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. The Brooklyn Museum hosted a popular exhibition of his work in 1921.

His desire to become a more serious artist, an artist of history, led him to honor his native Czechoslovakia and the Slavic peoples of Europe with 20 large paintings it took him 14 years to complete.

In 1928 he presented the series, The Slav Epic, to his native Czechoslovakia and which, less than 100 years later, has found a permanent home in Prague. (See it here in photos at Wikipedia.)

In 1939 Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia whose troops arrested Mucha and held him for questioning for several days, not long before he contracted pneumonia at almost age 79 and died the same year.

Although his art was not popular then, his son, Jiri, successfully worked to promote his father's art. Probably the greatest known collector of Mucha's art is tennis star and Czech-born Ivan Lendl who began his acquisitions after meeting Jiri in 1982. 

Through the closing Sunday at the Phillips, an expert will talk about Mucha and his art every day at 1 p.m. which is included in the admission price*.

Bloomberg Philanthropies presents free audio guides with an introduction by Mucha's great-grandson, Marcus Mucha, which may be accessed online.

A Mucha catalog is available at the Phillips' shop: hardcover, 240 pages, published 2025 by the Mucha Foundation, $60.

Other cities on the Mucha tour are Santa Fe, June 20 - Sept. 20, 2025; Boca Raton, Nov. 19 - Mar. 1, 2026; Kansas City, MO, Apr. 11 - Aug. 30, 2026; Mexico City, Mexico, Oct. 8- Feb.8, 2027.

The new Mucha Museum opened in February in the Savarin Palace in Prague.

What: Timeless Mucha:  The Magic of Line 

When: Through Sunday, May 18, 2025, 10 a. m. - 5 p.m. but on Sunday, the first hour is reserved for members only with the cafe and shop open to the public for that hour.

Where: The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St., N.W. at Q St., Washington, D.C. 20009

*Admission: $20, adults; $15 for those over 62; $10, students and educators (with ID); free for members, military and their families beginning this weekend through Labor Day (the Phillips is a Blue Star museum), and for those 18 and under.   Pay what you wish daily from 4 - 5 p.m. Reservations, recommended. 

Metro Station: Dupont Circle (Q Street exit. Turn left and walk one block.)

For more information: 202-387-2151  


Patricialesli@gmail.com