拍品專文
TO BE INCLUDED IN THE VICTOR BRAUNER CATALOGUE RAISONNé BEING PREPARED BY SAMMY KINGE.
ON 28 AUGUST 1938 VICTOR BRAUNER LOST HIS EYE IN AN UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT IN WHICH OSCAR DOMINGUEZ, HIS TURBULENT SURREALIST FRIEND, THREW A BOTTLE AT A FELLOW PAINTER ESTEBAN FRANCES. FRANCES AVOIDED THE BOTTLE WHICH CRASHED ON THE WALL BEHIND, BUT A SPLINTER REACHED BRAUNER'S EYE. THIS WAS A CRUCIAL EVENT FOR BRAUNER. A FEW YEARS LATER HE WROTE: "THIS MUTILATION REMAINS ALIVE IN ME AS ON THE DAY IT HAPPENED; IT CONSTITUTES THE MOST PAINFUL AND MOST IMPORTANT EVENT OF MY LIFE. THROUGH TIME, THIS EVENT HAS BECOME THE ESSENTIAL PIVOT OF MY OWN DEVELOPMENT". HE FELT THAT THE LOSS OF HIS PHYSICAL EYE WAS COMPENSATED BY THE BIRTH, INSIDE HIM, OF A SPIRITUAL EYE. FROM THEN ON HE PAINTED THE BEINGS AND THINGS THAT HE SAW THROUGH THIS SPIRITUAL EYE. IT IS THE PERIOD WHERE HE PAINTS HIS SERIES OF "EPHIALQUES", OF "LYCANTHROPES" - HYBRID BEINGS IN HUMAN FORM WITH THE ANIMAL AND VEGETAL WORLDS AS WELL AS WITH OBJECTS. THE LOSS OF HIS EYE CHANGED BRAUNER FROM THE CYNICAL OBSERVER OF SOCIAL LIFE THAT HE WAS, TO THE VISIONARY PAINTER OF A DOUBLE REALITY THAT HE BECAME.
THE PRESENT WORK, MITSI, EPITOMIZES THIS MOST IMPORTANT PERIOD. IT IS ONE OF THE FEW CHIMERA PAINTINGS THAT HE DID. THE REAL WORLD AND THE LAND OF FANTASY ARE MERGED TOGETHER THROUGH THE CREATION OF THIS IDEAL BEING. AN EVEN MORE MYSTERIOUS CHIMERA BARELY APPEARS, UNDECIPHERABLE, ON THE LEFT.
THE SURREALIST GROUP APPLAUDED SUCH CREATIONS. BRETON WROTE TO HIM IN 1939: "THIS EPITOMIZES AT ITS HIGHEST POINT THE FANTASTIC OF TODAY"; AND AGAIN IN 1940 : "YOU ARE STILL THE ONLY ONE FOR THE MODERN DEMONIAC".
ON 28 AUGUST 1938 VICTOR BRAUNER LOST HIS EYE IN AN UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT IN WHICH OSCAR DOMINGUEZ, HIS TURBULENT SURREALIST FRIEND, THREW A BOTTLE AT A FELLOW PAINTER ESTEBAN FRANCES. FRANCES AVOIDED THE BOTTLE WHICH CRASHED ON THE WALL BEHIND, BUT A SPLINTER REACHED BRAUNER'S EYE. THIS WAS A CRUCIAL EVENT FOR BRAUNER. A FEW YEARS LATER HE WROTE: "THIS MUTILATION REMAINS ALIVE IN ME AS ON THE DAY IT HAPPENED; IT CONSTITUTES THE MOST PAINFUL AND MOST IMPORTANT EVENT OF MY LIFE. THROUGH TIME, THIS EVENT HAS BECOME THE ESSENTIAL PIVOT OF MY OWN DEVELOPMENT". HE FELT THAT THE LOSS OF HIS PHYSICAL EYE WAS COMPENSATED BY THE BIRTH, INSIDE HIM, OF A SPIRITUAL EYE. FROM THEN ON HE PAINTED THE BEINGS AND THINGS THAT HE SAW THROUGH THIS SPIRITUAL EYE. IT IS THE PERIOD WHERE HE PAINTS HIS SERIES OF "EPHIALQUES", OF "LYCANTHROPES" - HYBRID BEINGS IN HUMAN FORM WITH THE ANIMAL AND VEGETAL WORLDS AS WELL AS WITH OBJECTS. THE LOSS OF HIS EYE CHANGED BRAUNER FROM THE CYNICAL OBSERVER OF SOCIAL LIFE THAT HE WAS, TO THE VISIONARY PAINTER OF A DOUBLE REALITY THAT HE BECAME.
THE PRESENT WORK, MITSI, EPITOMIZES THIS MOST IMPORTANT PERIOD. IT IS ONE OF THE FEW CHIMERA PAINTINGS THAT HE DID. THE REAL WORLD AND THE LAND OF FANTASY ARE MERGED TOGETHER THROUGH THE CREATION OF THIS IDEAL BEING. AN EVEN MORE MYSTERIOUS CHIMERA BARELY APPEARS, UNDECIPHERABLE, ON THE LEFT.
THE SURREALIST GROUP APPLAUDED SUCH CREATIONS. BRETON WROTE TO HIM IN 1939: "THIS EPITOMIZES AT ITS HIGHEST POINT THE FANTASTIC OF TODAY"; AND AGAIN IN 1940 : "YOU ARE STILL THE ONLY ONE FOR THE MODERN DEMONIAC".