Gunther Gerzso, In His Memory

Transcription

Gunther Gerzso
In His Memory
Gunther Gerzso
In His Memory
October  - November , 
mary-anne martin|ﬁne art
23 East 73rd Street
New York, NY 10021
telephone: (212) 288-2213
fax: (212) 861-7656
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.mamfa.com
Foreword
Gunther Gerzso died on April 21, 2000, just short of his eighty-fifth birthday. This show, originally
planned as a birthday gift, instead has become a memorial tribute. To say that he is gone is a sad thing.
There are the obvious comforting words; we know that he abides in the hearts of those who knew him and
that his art will live as long as there are souls who can identify a beautiful object and respond to its underlying secrets. Still, we would have liked to say good-bye. There was no time for that and so this exhibition
will have to serve as our farewell. It is put
together with affection and respect for a
man we admired and loved. Many serious
and, in some cases overdue, tributes to
this great artist will follow in the next several years. A retrospective exhibition, a
catalogue raisonné and numerous books
are all in preparation. In the meantime
we remember Gunther Gerzso in the
pages that follow.
Thanks to all who helped us with this
show: Gene Cady Gerzso who has been a
great friend and faithful correspondent;
Michael and Andrew Gerzso who have
been generous with their time and moral
support; Ambassador Jorge Pinto of the
Mexican Consulate in New York, who
agreed to lend a work from his private
collection and to write for us a reminiscence of his visit to Gerzso’s studio;
Alejandra Yturbe and Mariana PerezAmor of the Galería de Arte Mexicano
who found us catalogues of the earliest
Gunther Gerzso at mam/fa, 1995
shows and gave us permission to reprint
Wolfgang Paalen’s extraordinary essay of 1950; Professor Norman R. Shapiro of Wesleyan University who
allowed us to reproduce his excellent translation of Baudelaire’s poem; Lotte Mendelsohn who sent me
the tape of her 1981 radio interview with Gerzso and allowed me to transcribe and reproduce it here;
Ramón López-Quiroga who opened his gallery to me and graciously allowed me to borrow some key early
works; Thomasine Neight-Jacobs who informed me of the rich preserve of sketches and paintings from the
Cleveland years that her father, Thomas Ireland, had kept and she had archived; Pierrette van Cleve who
facilitated loans from the Ireland collection; Robert Littman who allowed me repeated visits to the storerooms of the Vergel Foundation where the Jacques and Natasha Gelman collection of Gerzsos is kept, and
who generously provided me with the group of highly important works that form the nucleus of this show;
Diana du Pont of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, who shares our passion; the private collectors who
cheerfully agreed to part with favorite paintings in order to honor Gerzso’s memory; Charlotte Sherman
for her persistence in our behalf; Sofia Lacayo who makes everything possible at mam/fa, Rosita Chalem
who has immersed herself in Gerzso research for several months; Lynn Harrison Bump who designs our
catalogues and website and who endures our foibles; and Ruth Kelley Martin who can spot a typo at twenty
paces and keeps our commas where they belong. This catalogue is dedicated to you all.
MAM
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Gunther Gerzso
Wolfgang Paalen
For we are like tree trunks in the snow. In appearance they lie sleekly and a light push should be enough to send them rolling. No, it
can’t be done, for they are firmly wedded to the ground. But even that is only appearance.
Franz Kafka
Gunther Gerzso’s recent work makes me think of Kafka for a certain quality of mood, and for a quality
of prose which does not describe but circumscribes situations rather than locations of subjects.
There is “La Ciudad Perdida” (the lost city, as the painter titles one of his most revealing pictures): no
city is named or outlined, but one knows immediately, here it had to be, here it might happen again. Still,
we are in the twilight; no one can tell whether the lamps are not yet lit or have already grown dim for
dawn. But then, one feels uncertain; perhaps, this city was never meant for illumination. For the windows
look inside and are not made of glass, rather facets of blind crystals; transparent now and then, but most
of the time clouded by thought, reflecting within themselves the dull glow of agates. The painter is not
concerned with blueprints but with organic growth; here is no illusory distinction between matter and spirit. The cracks and crevices are as substantial as the structures and it is only a question of apprehension,
whether the dark squares are holes or shadows. These landscapes are not to be trod by feet. Here the eye
can wander endlessly through labyrinths whose enchanting power lies in their being square, unravelling
through terrace-like levels.
The ores of an attentive mind grow slowly and a certain mineral patience is not out of place in a country where great sculptors of the past spent lifetimes to polish jades, obsidians and crystals.
Gunther Gerzso has spent most of his life in Mexico where he was born thirty-five years ago. He never
attended an art school but reached his astonishing craftsmanship in ten years of lonely work. Like any significant painter of today he integrates his immediate sources of inspiration into a truly international language; for him the Mexican medium is not a pretext for easy picturesqueness but a reverberation of
ancient glory and new promises. His titles are not labels but secret keys; when he calls a painting “Stela” or
the “Tower of Astronomers,” the timeless presence of Mayan monuments is not merely remembered but
brought into a visionary focus.
It might seem strange to speak of Mayan monuments and Kafka in the same breath; yet, the fathomless antechambers in the writer’s castles, the walls of his imaginary China, can be sensed on the ascending
terraces, in the endless vaults and pyramids of pre-Cortesian Mexico. There are no milestones in eternity,
and the lonely men on their way from the lost city to the possible city have come to know that the nearest
is also the farthest. For them, the ancient glyphs which can no longer be read, and the glyphs which cannot be read yet, are equally meaningful.
But in a time of constant confusion between the great and the colossal, the strong and the loud,
between knowledge and wisdom,-- who wants to listen to silent virtues?
Yet, if anything, art could provide an equivalent for what in the East is called meditation; and there is
nothing we need more urgently. One is almost tempted to speak of the revolutionary value of silence,
when artists everywhere turn into noisy escapists, making fools of themselves in the three-ring circus of
politics, megalomania, and fake religion.
Sometimes it seems the battle of modern art has to be fought all over again--or, perhaps, it has only
begun. The tidal waves of confusion have obliterated the clear-cut promontories and much aesthetic ivy
has blurred the clean outlines. A stronger faith and a harder discipline will be needed when it is no more
a matter to shock but to convince.
Gerzso has chosen the difficult road. The road where the goal has to be re-discovered at every turn,
where the promised city is apt to become a mirage and the mirage a trap. But when the traveler does not
know any more whether to burn or to carry his burden of images, someone will come to meet him and
say: ecce pintor.
This remarkable essay, as apt today as it was in 1950, was written for the catalogue of Gerzso's first exhibition. It is reprinted here
with the permission of Galería de Arte Mexicano.
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A Conversation with Gunther Gerzso
Excerpts from a radio interview by Lotte Mendelsohn, Mexico City, January 1981
Lotte Mendelsohn: Gunther, if I describe your work as non-objective, geometric abstraction, will you
argue with me?
Gunther Gerzso: Yes and no. Because nowadays it really doesn’t mean anything to be abstract or
non-objective. I think one has to reduce it to realistic representation or not. What I do, for instance,
is very real for me. When I do a painting I don’t worry about what it is. I just let my emotions go and
I worry mostly about the execution of the painting, because the other things come by themselves.
LM: You work from a bosquejo, no? A beginning sketch?
GG: Well, before I used to work directly, but I ruined too many canvases, and so I thought it would
be a good idea to get it down first on a piece of paper. What I do really lends itself to that. There are
other artists who have to do their work very spontaneously. I’m not among them. I’m more like the
Old Masters who have to resolve everything before they start. Everything has to be in its place and
then comes the execution of the painting. Sometimes I change something during the execution of
the painting but most of the time I make a drawing first, a very accurate drawing, always to scale.
LM: And also in color, no, with color notations?
GG: Sometimes. Not always. I usually wait until the next day and I see whether this sketch is to my
liking or not. If there is something missing I just put it aside, sometimes for as much as a year, or I
make the changes right away. But usually one has to wait until there is a feeling that it clicks.
LM: Does something ever not gel? Do you ever go back to something and not like it at all?
GG: Yes. As a matter of fact, I have a place in my studio with rejected paintings, which I call “the
cemetery” and every once in a while I go through them and I must say that very seldom do I pick
one out again to work on.
LM: In other words, if it didn’t work, then that’s it. Interesting that you would go as far as executing
the painting before you knew, that the scale sketch wouldn’t tell you that, before you started on the
canvas…
GG: Yes.
LM: Graphic expression goes back a long way with you. Will you tell us something about your beginnings? You began in a different way from a lot of other painters.
GG: I did not want to become a painter. When I was about 15, I met a man in Switzerland [Nando
Tamberlani] who did stage sets for La Scala in Milan. He was almost part of our family there, and
from that moment on I wanted to be a stage designer. When I returned to Mexico the next year I
never really considered becoming a painter. It was only later that I began to think that stage design
was not very interesting, because I became friends with a young man [the painter, Bernard Pfriem]
who made my lunch every day in a delicatessen in Cleveland, Ohio, and he would say, “you should
become a painter,” and I would say “oh no, no, no” and he would say “oh yes.” It was he who
brought me my first canvas and my first brushes and colors. I still have that painting, the first one I
did. But it’s not difficult to make a living as a stage designer and to make a living as a painter is very
difficult. For instance, I was a stage designer at the Cleveland Playhouse for four years and after
these four years I said, “Well I’m going to try to be a painter in Mexico,” and I came here with my
wife, and of course it was a disaster, because nobody was interested in what I was doing. And it was
just by chance that somebody offered me the chance to design a film. So out of economic necessity I
accepted this job in the Mexican motion picture industry and I stayed for 20 years. My impulse to
become a painter wasn’t very strong yet. But little by little I kept painting more and more works, and
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nobody knew about it. I kept putting the paintings in a closet till a friend of mine asked me, “Don’t
you think it’s about time that somebody should see these paintings?” And I said, oh no, no, no.” But
he insisted, and Inés Amor [of the Galería de Arte Mexicano] came and saw those paintings and she
gave me a show. The opening night was a disaster: there were only ten people, of which about eight
were my relatives…
LM: What year was this, Gunther?
GG: 1950. But somebody from Chicago—a very nice lady—bought two paintings.1 And this collector from Chicago [Muriel Newman] said, “You know, you’re going to go places.” I said, “Well, it
seems that nobody here is interested.” And the critics in Mexico thought I was really not worth mentioning. But from that moment on, little by little it went up and up and up, till I left the motion pictures and now I just paint.
LM: Now you hopscotched for me in your history from Switzerland to Cleveland to Mexico. How did
you get to Cleveland and why Cleveland?
GG: Because my mother, here in the Calle Hamburgo, had a big house...
LM: You were born in Mexico?
GG: I was born in Mexico in the Calle Marsella, Colonia Juarez. And my mother had a big house
here on Hamburgo, and during the summer she rented out two rooms — because she said “Why
should we have all this space?” And one year a stage designer [Arch Lauterer] from the States came
to live there and my mother said, “You know my son is very much interested in stage design and all
he does since he left school is make these drawings,” and he saw the drawings and said, “You should
go to the Cleveland Playhouse, because they accept about twenty students every season. You don’t
pay them and they don’t pay you.” And the Cleveland Playhouse accepted me as a student and this is
how I started. You had to work as a stagehand to begin with, and the first thing they told me was to
get some overalls at Sears Roebuck next door, and for the next five or six months I was shifting
scenery, working the rain machine, etc., etc. And then after a year they said there’s nobody here that
is interested in stage design and our stage designer is leaving. The Cleveland Playhouse was a pretty
important place.
LM: This was not summer stock.
GG: No, no, no, no. This was the winter season, from September to May. And they had two stages, a
big one and a small one. So they told me the stage designer was leaving and why don’t we try it with
you? And the technical director, who was a friend of mine, said, “Oh yes, come on!” I said “No, I
don’t know enough,” and he said, “No, you’re going to try it.” And I tried it, and I was the designer
there for four years and I even taught stage design at Western Reserve University.
LM: Was any of your background with architecture? What was your study background?
GG: Nothing. I didn’t go to college. The only background I ever had in art was from my mother’s
brother, who was a very important art dealer in Europe. He had this house in [Lugano] Switzerland
and I was sent over there at the age of twelve to become his heir, because my aunt and my uncle didn’t have any children. I lived with them and I was surrounded by masterpieces. I wasn’t interested
but they drilled into me how to look at paintings and what a painting is, and so forth. I preferred
playing Cowboys and Indians, but I suppose during these five or six years that I was there I had to
learn something. It rubbed off. They were very rigid. For instance, if we traveled in Italy the first
thing was always to go to the museum. You had to stand in front of the paintings and say what you
thought and then they explained it to you. And all that was special training. I never went to art
school, and I never had any art teachers. I only had one man in Mexico who taught me what to do so
that the paint wouldn’t fall off.
LM: How to prepare a canvas…
1Estela (1947) and La ciudad perdida (1949), both donated to the Art Institute of Chicago
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GG: But that’s all.
LM: The things that you do, your paintings, are structural, they are clean. They are a series of
planes. I have a very beautiful drawing of yours that I love and it’s called Huacán. It came from your
archeological series, and obviously you do not depict pyramids and Indians with feathers on their
heads. But it’s there, that magic of the pyramids, the architecture and the color. There is a mood
evoked in what you do, even in a small drawing. Now I don’t know if everyone sees that. Your public
is small and absolutely fanatic. You’re either passionately involved with what Gunther Gerzso does or
you don’t like it. There’s never any lukewarm feeling about what you do from a viewer. I have known
you for many years and I was amazed when you had your retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art
[Mexico] seven or eight years ago that there was a whole period of your work that had got by me,
where you painted torn edges within the canvas. I guess you would call it a kind of trompe l’oeil ?
GG: No. I don’t think so. First of all you have to go back to what you said before. When I started to
paint, I didn’t have any idea of what to do. In those days I was a collector of Mexican paintings, and
the first painting I did was very much influenced by Orozco Romero. Now the second one was very
much influenced by Old Masters, and the third by something else. And there were always influences
of surrealism. When I came back to Mexico [in 1941] and I met the surrealist refugees here, like
Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo, and we became intimate friends, there was a period where
I was very much influenced by the Paris surrealist school. Then one day—I still know the day—I said
to myself, “Yes, but I live in Mexico and I’m a Mexican citizen, even though I’m not Mexican by
blood, and there should be something that I can interpret about this country and everything that it
offers visually and aesthetically, in a new way.” Not like Diego Rivera, Orozco or Siqueiros—even
though I am still a great admirer of these people. There should be something else. And it was that
simple, because one day it just hit me. That was in 1946 and I did a little painting [Tihuanaco] and
that painting is the papa of all the paintings I have done since then.
LM: Is it hanging here?
GG: No, it’s in Madrid. In those days I used to give away my paintings. And ever since I painted that
painting I have been developing this discovery. I’m not sure what it is but it has something to do with
this country; it has nothing to do with Europe, except possibly in the sense that the means of expression are European—I mean the canvas, the brushes and the tools—but everything else belongs here.
It was also at that time that I discovered Pre-Columbian art and this is why many of the things that I
did—and they still are, only it’s a little bit more difficult to see now— were influenced by PreColumbian art, by the Mexican landscape. I use the tropical landscape, Pre-Columbian architecture
and Pre-Columbian figures as a point of departure in the same way that the Cubists used African art,
or Matisse used Persian miniatures or the Renaissance masters used Greek and Roman art.
LM: When we talk about departures from Pre-Columbian art, which of course is figurative and massive, are we talking about your use of the volume of these? Because there’s really nothing figurative
about anything that you do.
GG: Well, to me they’re very realistic. To me they are…well I cannot describe them. Critics have told
me, “I’m supposed to write about you but it is so difficult to put into words what you do.” I mean the
simplest thing to say would be Man Smoking a Pipe by Cézanne, but the way he did it, that’s very difficult to describe. And people have said to me that my paintings look like stage sets because they are
one-dimensional…
LM: Oh I don’t see that at all.
GG: Of course many people have said many things. For instance a newspaper critic once told me I
should design furniture because my paintings remind him of bureau drawers…
LM: You can’t explain contemporary art to people, you can’t intellectualize. You either feel it or you
don’t. At your retrospective I stood before one of your large paintings and I was moved to tears. I
think it was one from the collection of Jacques Gelman, and I remember standing there and feeling
absolutely lost because I didn’t have one like it.
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GG: Well, there are other people who don’t agree. For instance, there was once a lady who came to
see us and she looked at my paintings and she said to me, “I would never have one of your paintings.
Don’t think I am being rude, but they scare me to death.” And she was absolutely right. My paintings
are rather scary and what happens there, under that beautiful surface, is not always very agreeable.
What it is I don’t know. There was one man who wrote a poem about me who said my paintings were
the representation of Death. I mention all these things because I cannot say they’re wrong. Maybe
they are. But then there is another case. We had a laundry woman about twenty-five years ago and I
used to throw out paintings and she picked them up and took them home. She was a laundry lady in
San Ángel. And once I went to her house and there they were hanging on the wall. And I said,
“Where did you get them?” She said “Ah, you threw them away, and you know, they’re very beautiful
and I hang them up here.” In other words my paintings appeal to people who are intellectuals and
also to those who are not.
LM: I think the only criticism that I have every heard of your paintings is that they are cold and
intellectual. Now how can something be cold and intellectual? To me that is a dichotomy.
GG: Yes. They are cold because they are so controlled that any minute now there is going to be an
explosion.
LM: But that’s not cold! That’s immediate warmth, no?
GG: Octavio Paz wrote a very beautiful two or three pages on me [The Icy Spark]1 and it’s exactly
that. He said all this coldness is not true. Underneath there are these volcanoes about to burst. Now
all this sounds very nice and I say, “Okay, this is how it is.” Or if somebody says, “We cannot live with
your paintings because they scare us to death,” I accept that too. But there’s one thing: nobody is
ever indifferent, and I think that is very good.
LM: Yes, it’s a black or white situation. They either accept or reject them.
GG: Nobody ever rejects them because they are ugly or boring.
LM: We’re talking to you on the eve of a big retrospective of your work in Monterrey, Mexico, almost
a hundred works at the Museo de Monterrey. I notice that so many of your paintings include the
color green. Tell us about the use of green. This, of course, is part of Mexico, isn’t it? Do you want
to talk about green?
GG: The color green must always have appealed to me. When I worked at the Cleveland Playhouse I
was always dressed in overalls and people said that if I took them off they could stand by themselves,
because they were so full of paint. And the joke at the Playhouse was that if you wanted to know
what the color of the set was going to be for the next play, just look at Gunther’s overalls — and it
was always green! Well, maybe green has a very special appeal, but at the same time, it’s not only
green. I couldn’t tell you why green appeals to me. I suppose other people like pink or blue, but I
would say that more than half of my paintings are a variation of greens and the other half are
orange and red.
LM: That brilliant, brilliant, beautiful red of yours. I think that one of the most fascinating things
about watching you work, if one has the good fortune to see you at work, is that there are two or
three works on the easel in various stages. Your way of building up transparencies is a unique and
unusual one.
GG: This is probably the consequence of the Prussian training that I got from this art dealer uncle
of mine. I had to look at paintings and one of the things that he told me was if you have a painting
of an apple, it’s not important that it’s an apple, it’s how it is done. And then he told me that the
paint has to be transformed into something else, into poetry or into spiritual values. I suppose
because of this training, this is what I try to do. Paintings that just have one color don’t appeal to
me. A painting has to have something more than that; it has to vibrate, it has to be transformed into
something else. Because after all, what is a painting? It’s a piece of cloth, with a wooden frame, and
1La centella glacial, 1973
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then you push around some paint with a little stick that some poor animal’s hair was put on, and
that’s how you do it! But there must be something else; you have to transform all this material—
which in itself is nothing—into something else.
LM: You use an interesting word, “vibrate” as far as color is concerned, which doesn’t mean the same
thing as “vibrant.” You have a special way with transparencies. There was a period of time when you
had the centers of things lighter and the outside areas were darker and they moved like flowers
growing, like a bud opening, in color. There was that vibrancy and I have never seen anyone else do
it. And if you go to a Gerzso exhibit you will see that the painters themselves—you are a painter’s
painter—will be up there trying to get sideways to look at your canvases to see how you did that.
GG: Well, I think that it’s very simple. It’s very simple because I know how. There were some painters
who once came to see me and they asked, “How do you do it?” I always explain, I have no secrets. It’s
like saying, “ah, you did a drawing with a pencil! Now you cannot use a pencil.” It’s ridiculous. What
happens there on the canvas, with very conventional materials, that’s your own thing. Some painters
thought that what I did was too complicated. To me it’s not complicated, because this is the only way
I know how.
LM: I was interviewing an author the other day and talking to him about the craft of writing, and he
told me that when he first started to write he would do an outline of about 10 to 20 pages. But now
he does a complete outline of 50 to 60 pages, with everything solved before he writes. And I asked
why has the outline gotten longer, has the book gotten longer? And he said, “At my stage of craftsmanship, as a professional, I cannot afford to do something less than perfectly.”
GG: Well, that’s true. My paintings take longer now than they used to. Maybe that’s because you try
to push ahead, ahead, ahead, or sometimes it’s a great failure or it doesn’t work technically. I
thought that it should be easier by now, but no, it’s more difficult and one gets more desperate.
Because you feel that you should know better and you think, “Good heavens, I did this now five hundred times and I should know.” And I find out that I still don’t know.
LM: Is there a particular point in a painting where you know that it’s not going to work or it is going
to work?
GG: Oh, yes.
LM: Is it always the same time? Halfway through or a third of the way through?
GG: Yes. But it happens less now than before, because I plan a painting step by step on a piece of
paper and I think about it. I think about it constantly, even if I’m not painting. Even if I’m watching
television, I think about my painting. And if I’m looking at a movie, I think about my painting and
this is a process that continues. The putting down of the brush on top of the surface is really the last
stage. But painting is thinking, thinking, thinking; and what you really do is think about the technique so that the other things that you cannot control—which are completely irrational and come in
a very funny way—come out better. A comparison would be a pianist. If he doesn’t know how to play
Chopin to perfection technically, he will never get to the interpretation.
LM: I have always been impressed by the clean and orderly working environment of your studio.
Could you work without it?
GG: Well, to me my studio is not so clean as you describe it. For instance, I have an assistant now,
and every once in a while he comes in and he gets furious and says, “This looks terrible!” and he
gets to work and cleans it. Yes, I’ve seen other people’s studios, but I could not work in a place that
was not orderly, where the brushes were not washed every day and the floor was littered with papers.
No, I don’t think I could work that way. Besides, the paintings I do don’t require much space so my
studio is also partly a library and a sort of living room, because I paint in one corner of my studio. I
have another little room about 6 x 6 feet where I do all the dirty work, and since my paintings never
get bigger than three feet square…I’m not a Jackson Pollock who needs a garage because he does
paintings 30 feet by 20 feet.
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LM: Do you work with acrylics or oils now or both?
GG: Both. In fact every painting that I do now is started in acrylics, and then on top I put oil.
LM: And they’re not incompatible?
GG: No, no. You’re not supposed to put oil paint on thick acrylic because acrylic always remains
flexible and oil paint dries into a hard film and this might crack on top. But I use acrylic very thinly,
almost like watercolor. The first time they showed me acrylic paints I said that I would never use
them. I thought, “This is terrible, this type of pigment is terrible to work with.” But now I even do
acrylics on paper, just acrylics, without any oil. I mean, one learns.
LM: There was a period of time in your painting where you used marble dust, you used texture. Are
you still doing that or have you gotten away from it?
GG: That was when I went to Greece, in 1959. I went to Greece for a visit, and when I came back,
one day in my studio I didn’t know what to paint and I said, “I’m going to paint a picture called
Souvenir of Greece. And this was the first one of thirty-six paintings. And all these paintings have sand
and pumice stone and texture, because the Greek landscape impressed me very much. And the
funny part was it impressed me because it looked so much like Mexico.
LM: And the light, you have the same kind of light, do you not?
GG: And also you have these bare mountains. Of course, the ocean you have is different there. But
you have these old buildings and temples…it’s very much like Mexico.
LM: Tell me about your incursion into graphics.
GG: Well, it’s because of outside influences. I think you were the first one to say, “You should do
graphics.” And as usual it took forever for me to decide to do something. I didn’t know anything
about graphics, but I did the first one, and the second and a third, and little by little I started learning. And then I was invited to Tamarind, in the United States, in Albuquerque and I arrived there
and I was supposed to be artist in residence for two months. And I said, “I don’t know anything
about making lithographs,” and they said, “Ah, that’s marvelous, we’ll teach you.” And I did five lithographs with them. And they came out well because there were wonderful people there. And then I
did silkscreens. I just completed a book on Pre-Columbian poetry [Del Arbol Florido]1 and it took a
year to make these fourteen prints. Silkscreen is a horrible medium, because it is cold, cold, cold
and it’s flat and you cannot do any nuances. And I just got mad at the medium and I said, “I’m
going to lick you!” And we did, I think.
LM: Oh, they are really very beautiful. But you prefer the lithographic medium to the silkscreen?
GG: I think the lithograph is more sensuous, if I can use that term; the little details that come out in
a lithograph, sometimes by chance, are more interesting than in the silkscreen. I think I am going to
go back to Tamarind. They always invite me – they write me love letters saying, “When are you coming back?” They are very nice people. And besides they have this discipline that I adore. You have to
be there at eight o’clock in the morning, and you’re not allowed to go across the street, as I once
did for an ice cream cone. They said, “Where were you?” I said, “I went across the street for an ice
cream cone,” and they said, “This line here, we can’t get it right and you were across the street…”
LM: Eating ice cream!
GG: And I like that.
LM: I want to bring up one more thing. Your painting records. You’ve talked about doing your
sketches. I have never known anyone else to keep the kind of records, with a sketch and to scale. You
write down each color and what you have used, in that beautiful fine script of yours. They are by
themselves an art form. Has anybody told you that?
1Ediciones Multiarte, published by Arvil Gráfica, 1981
10
GG: Well, I once showed them to a museum curator and he said we must have an exhibition of nothing else but these. But for me they are very practical. There is this drawing—usually it is done with a
ruler—and then on the next page I write what it was I used on the painting. I say first I did this and
then I did that, with the date, and then I keep track of exactly how many days I worked on it.
Because often I look at a painting later and I have forgotten what I did to get a particular effect.
Sometimes when I recall a painting of mine or I see a painting I like, I think, “That’s not bad, how
did I do that?” And this is why I write it down. Then you use exactly the same things and it turns out
different! That’s one of the great mysteries of painting.
For instance, Delacroix used to have an incredible collection of little bottles with colors in them and
one was called, “Very Good for Highlights on Horses’ Eyes!” or “Very Good for Gypsies’ Feet!” And
this is an illusion that painters have. They put this in a little bottle and they think, “One of these
days when I paint another gypsy I’ll have this color. And then it turns out that when they use this
color, something goes wrong.
LM: And God forbid that one of those little bottles of paint should dry up; they would really be in
trouble.
GG: Exactly.
Transcribed and edited by Mar y-Anne Martin
New York City, September 2000
11
1.
Self-Portrait (Autorretrato)
tempera on paper
217/8 × 18¼ inches (55.6 × 46.4 cm)
c.1937
Note: In 1935 Gerzso began an apprenticeship in theatre design at the Cleveland Playhouse in
Ohio. Notwithstanding his young age and relative inexperience, he was quickly promoted to
head scenographer and in the following four years he designed the sets and costumes for over
fifty productions. Encouraged by a painter friend, Bernard Pfriem, Gerzso also began to pursue
his interest in art, teaching himself painting by experimenting with the techniques of past masters. Gerzso executed this self-portrait circa 1937 rendering his young and rather gaunt face in
the style of Vincent Van Gogh.
This and other works of the period form The Ireland Collection. Thomas Ireland was an actor
and director at the playhouse at the same time as Gerzso. It is due to Mr. Ireland's early recognition of Gerzso's talent that these works are preserved, providing interesting insights into the
artist's formative years.
Provenance:
Acquired from the artist
The Ireland Collection
By descent to the present owner
12
13
2.
Four Bathers
signed and dated 1940 on the reverse
oil on canvas
19¾ × 24 inches (50.2 × 61.0 cm)
1940
Note: Although painted while Gerzso was still working and living in Cleveland, Four Bathers is
highly characteristic both in style and subject matter of the Mexican School of painting. In the
1930's, artists such as Jesús Guerrero Galván, Agustín Lazo and Julio Castellanos were working
in a neo-classical style inspired by 1920's Picassos and the masters of the Italian Renaissance.
This style was considered very progressive in Latin America and artists such as Mario Carreño
from Cuba and Jaime Colson from the Dominican Republic came to Mexico to study and learn
painting from the masters of the Mexican School.
During summer visits to Mexico, Gerzso immersed himself in the city's art scene, establishing
relationships with artists that he admired and collected. Four Bathers not only highlights these
connections, but also displays Gerzso's capacity to assimilate the different styles of the painters
he liked. The connection is obvious between this painting and such works as Julio Castellanos's
famous El Dia de San Juan of 1939, now in the collection of Banamex, and Las Tias of 1933 in
the Museum of Modern Art, New York. These two paintings were originally owned by Gerzso
who purchased them directly from Castellanos, who was a good friend. Three related drawings
accompany Four Bathers, further emphasizing its sources in Mexican neo-classicism and Picasso.
Provenance:
14
15
3.
Three Bathers
graphite on Bond paper
8 3/8 × 11 inches (21.3 × 27.9 cm)
1940
Provenance:
4.
Nude Bathers
ink on paper
9½ × 12 5/8 inches (24.1 × 32.0 cm)
1940
Provenance:
5.
Male Bathers
ink on paper
9½ × 12 5/8 inches (24.1 × 32.0 cm)
1940
Provenance:
16
17
6.
Encuentro
signed and dated ’44
oil on canvas
13¾ × 19 5/8 inches (34.8 × 49.7 cm)
1944
Note: Mexico was introduced to European surrealism with the arrival of André Breton in 1938
and the subsequent showing of the International Surrealist Exhibition at the Galería de Arte
Mexicano in January 1940. Surrealism provided an alternative to the Mexican Mural movement
for artists who possessed a familiarity with international styles and ideas of art. Surrealism further gained attention as a group of exiled European artists including Wolfgang Paalen, Alice
Rahon, Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and the poet Benjamin Péret, emigrated to
Mexico City between 1938 and 1942.
Gerzso himself returned to Mexico City in 1941 with the intention of becoming a full-time
painter, but within the year financial pressures led him to accept a job designing sets for films
in Mexico. In 1944 Gerzso came into contact with the group of émigré surrealists and soon fell
under their sway. In a 1973 television interview1 Gerzso mentions that he had not intended to
become a surrealist, but that he became friendly with the exiled group and allowed himself to
be influenced by them.
For example, in this painting and the following one (La Isla), Gerzso follows the style of Paalen
and André Masson. In Paricutín, he draws inspiration from Yves Tanguy and Matta. These works
are mostly experimental but they are Gerzso’s initial expression of the emotions and irrationalities that later appear in his canvases.
Provenance:
Lent courtesy of Galería López-Quiroga, Mexico City
1 Gerzso: La Pintura Herida
18
19
7.
La isla
oil on masonite
221/8 × 27¼ inches (55.2 × 69.8 cm)
1945
Note: See note to no. 6
Provenance:
Estate of Luis Lindau, Mexico City
Exhibited:
Monterrey, Museo de Monterrey, Exposición Retrospectiva de Gunther Gerzso, Jan.-March, 1981
20
21
8.
Paricutín
signed and dated 1945
oil on board
27¼ × 38 7/8 inches (69.2 × 98.8 cm)
1945
Note: Paricutín is the youngest volcano on earth, having surged from a cornfield in Michoacán,
Mexico in an eruption that occurred from 1943 to 1952. Most of the explosive activity took
place during the first year in which the cone grew to 1,100 feet. The event provided the rare
opportunity to witness the birth and growth of a mountain, the most famous account of which
was recorded and published by the Mexican artist and volcanologist, Dr. Atl.1
Paricutín is rendered in a style influenced by Yves Tanguy and Matta, whose work Gerzso would
have seen while living in the United States or at the 1940 surrealist exhibition at GAM. Matta
himself had started to paint volcanic forms in the summer of 1941 while visiting Taxco with
Robert Motherwell. For Matta the volcano came to signify his human body erupting with “everything that burned inside,” an image of life, “bursts of energy, affection and desire.”2
Provenance:
Estate of Ann Lee Lindsay, Lynn, MA
Lent in her memory by the present owner
Exhibited:
New York, Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, Masterpieces of Mexican Art, Ancient to Modern, Sept.- Oct.
1990, no. 83
1 Dr. Atl, Como nace y crece un volcán: el Paricutín, Editoreal Stylo, Mexico; 1950
2 Ferrari, G. ed.. Matta, Notebook N.1, 1936-1944, Scepter House, London; 1987, p. 108.
22
23
9.
Mansión ancestral
signed; also signed, titled and dated ‘Mayo ’49’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
13 3/8 × 191/8 inches (34.0 × 48.7 cm)
1949
Note: Gerzso worked for the movie industry for a period of twenty years producing sets for
about 250 Mexican, French and American films. He collaborated with many pioneer producers
and directors including Luis Buñuel, John Ford, Yves Allegret, and John Huston. Gerzso’s travels in Mexico while scouting for set locations enabled him to explore the landscape of the
country as well as many of the pre-Columbian archeological sites. The art and architecture of
Mexico’s native cultures engendered an emotional response in Gerzso and inspired him to find
an independent, more personal form of expression.1 By 1946 he had abandoned surrealism
and had begun developing a personal abstract vocabulary. As a painter Gerzso worked only part
time but he steadily built up a concrete and original body of work. Mansión Ancestral is from a
group of paintings that were exhibited in Gerzso’s first show, organized by Inéz Amor at her
Galería de Arte Mexicano in May 1950.
Gerzso first met Inés Amor through the painter Otto Butterlin. She recognized Gerzso’s potential, encouraging and supporting him through an early period of uncertainty and doubt. In his
memorial testimony to Inéz Amor, Gerzso remembers her with respect, recognizing that it was
she who pressed for his initial success.2
Provenance:
Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City
Private collection, Pittsburgh
Sale: Christie’s, New York, Important Latin American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture (Part II),
Nov. 21, 1995, lot 118
Private collection, New York
Exhibited:
Mexico City, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Gunther Gerzso, May 8-31, 1950, cat. no. 17
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, Oct., 1952
1 For a discussion of the impact of pre-Columbian art on Gerzso see José Antonio Aldrete-Haas,
Gunther Gerzso, Conversaciones, Ed. Samarcanda, 1996, p. 21
2 Romero Keith, Delmari, Historia y Testimonios, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Published by GAM,
Mexico; 1985, p. 138-143
24
25
10. Two Personages
carbon transfer with color wash on paper
10¼ × 16½ inches (26 × 41.9 cm)
1950
Note: This work is from a series of drawings that Gerzso made by the experimental technique
of carbon transfer. To make such a work, the artist places a sheet of paper face down over a
piece of carbon paper. By pressing on the back of the drawing paper with a pencil, an image is
imprinted on the opposite side. The surrealists used this technique as a form of indirect drawing in order to achieve the effect of a mechanical reproduction or monotype, as did the
French-American artist, Jules Pascin. Several works of this type remain in the artist’s studio.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
New York, Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, Gunther Gerzso, 80th Birthday Show, Sept. 28 – Oct. 28,
1995, cat. no. 4. This exhibition traveled to Galerie Rahn, Zurich, Spring 1996
26
27
11. Fiesta
signed and dated ’50; signed, titled and dated ’50 on the reverse
oil on masonite
18 × 15 inches (45.7 × 38.1 cm)
1950
Provenance:
Collection of Jacques and Natasha Gelman, Mexico City
The Vergel Foundation
Exhibited:
Mexico City, Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno, INBA, Gunther Gerzso, Exposición Retrospectiva,
Aug.- Sept. 1963, cat. no. 13, illus.
Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, Twenty Years of Gunther Gerzso, Feb. 1970, cat. no. 19, illus.
Mexico City, Museo de Arte Moderno, INBA, Gunther Gerzso, Pinturas y Dibujos, March - April
1970, cat. no. 15
Mexico City, Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporáneo, La Colección de Pintura Mexicana Jacques y
Natasha Gelman, June - Oct. 1992, cat. no. 3, illustrated in color, p. 41
Literature:
Cardoza y Aragón, Luis. Gunther Gerzso. Colección de Arte no. 22, Mexico, UNAM; 1972,
illus. no. 11
28
29
12. Paisaje negro-amarillo-naranja-rojo
graphite, colored pencils and crayon on paper
8 3/8 × 11½ inches (21.3 × 29.2 cm)
1954
Note: Regarding the acquisition of this work, Ambassador Jorge Pinto recalls his meeting with
Gunther Gerzso:
I still remember vividly my visit to Gunther Gerzso’s studio in San Angel in the early 70’s. I believe it was
on the third floor of his home, full of canvases, tubes of oil paint, pens and colored pencils, everything neatly in order. I wanted to buy a small sketch or a drawing to add to my collection. In Mexico it was relatively
common for young professionals to keep their savings in artwork, to enjoy and share them with others. I had
already managed to buy a small work from Ricardo Martinez, a watercolor from Pedro Coronel, a painted
wood box from Vicente Rojo and prints by Alberto Gironella, José Luis Cuevas, Manuel Felguerez, Francisco
Toledo and other admired and—at the time—relatively accessible Mexican painters. After walking through
the studio and looking at large oil paintings, he took me to a large table, where he started to pass over to me
drawings in black ink, all with the tight symmetry and straight lines that characterized his work. I selected
three pieces and was ready to make the final choice, but he continued to browse through his notebooks. He
pulled out a small color drawing that was hidden among a well-organized collection of recent works. It was
totally different in style and medium. He immediately told me, “you should take this one. This drawing is
from an early period and as you can see, my work has changed. This one is very special and you will not be
able to find a similar one.” Obviously I followed his very kind advice. Now, when I look at this wonderful
little piece I can visualize that remarkable man, whom I met almost thirty years ago.
New York, September 2000
Provenance:
Collection of Ambassador Jorge Pinto, New York
30
31
13. Paisaje
oil on paper laid down on canvas
29 7/8 × 201/8 inches (76.0 × 51.0 cm)
1954
Provenance:
32
33
14. Ciudadela
signed; also signed, titled and dated ‘X. ’55’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
301/8 × 21½ inches (76.7 × 54.6 cm)
1955
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Aug.-Sept. 1963, cat. no. 22, illus.
São Paulo, VII Bienal de São Paulo, Gunther Gerzso, 1965, cat. no. 3
Natasha Gelman, June-Oct. 1992, cat. no. 6, illustrated in color
34
35
15. El volcán
oil on masonite
27½ × 20¼ inches (69.8 × 51.4 cm)
1955
Note: Antonio Souza’s Galería de los Contemporáneos (1956-1970) provided a venue for
artists who proposed alternatives to the dominant Mexican School of painting and it was there
that the careers of many young and progressive artists such as Francisco Toledo and José Luis
Cuevas began.
Gerzso exhibited with Souza from the gallery’s inception in 1956, participating in many group
exhibitions as well as three one-man shows in 1956, 1958 and 1960. Gerzso remembered Souza
as having the rare ability to penetrate the surface of a painting to detect immediately the creative brilliance of an artist, “a man more concerned with admiring art than selling it.”1 Gerzso
eventually became independent from Souza’s gallery but it is clear from his testimony that he
was grateful for the early encouragement and promotion it provided for him and his work.2
Provenance:
Galería Antonio Souza, Mexico City
Collection of Bernard J. Ridder, Pasadena
Sale: Sotheby’s, New York, 18th, 19th and 20th Century Latin American Paintings, Drawings,
Sculpture and Prints, Dec. 2, 1981, lot 32
Estate of Luis Lindau, Mexico City
Exhibited:
Mexico City, Galería Antonio Souza, Gunther Gerzso, 1958
1 Romero Keith, Delmari, Galería de Antonio Souza, Vanguardia de una Época. Mexico, p. 62-64
2 ibid.
36
37
16. Paisaje de San Ángel
signed and dated ’56; also titled on the reverse
oil on plywood
20½ × 29¾ inches (52.1 × 75.6 cm)
1956
San Ángel is a neighborhood in the south section of Mexico City where Gerzso and his family
have lived since the early forties. Its quiet cobblestone streets and low stone houses provide a
quaint reminder of earlier times, before Mexico City was choked with industry and pollution.
The large picture windows in Gerzso’s studio on the top floor of Fresnos 21 provided a vantage
point from which Gerzso could observe the gradual changes in the neighborhood, as water
tanks gave way to TV antennas and later to satellite dishes. These observed elements often
made their way into his compositions, as for example, he evokes here the atmosphere of the
neighborhood with its distinct, low slung roofs and international style architecture.
Provenance
Gift from the artist
Frank Cady, Wilsonville, Oregon
Literature:
Cardoza y Aragón, Luis. Gunther Gerzso. Colección de Arte no. 22, Mexico, UNAM; 1972, illus.
no. 18
38
39
17. Paisaje [Rojo]
signed and dated ’58; also signed and dated on the reverse
oil on masonite
25 3/8 × 17¾ inches (64.5 × 45.2 cm)
1958
Provenance:
Collection of Mrs. Harry Horner, Los Angeles
40
18. Paisaje [Azul]
signed and dated ’58; also signed and dated on the reverse
oil on canvas
25¾ × 19 7/8 inches (66.0 × 50.5 cm)
1958
Provenance:
Collection of Mrs. Harry Horner, Los Angeles
Exhibited:
Austin, University of Texas Michener Galleries, Gunther Gerzso: Paintings and Graphics
Reviewed, April 4- May 23, 1976, illus. p. 28
Literature:
Tanasescu, Horia, “Gunther Gerzso,” in Viajes, No. 59, Fall 1964, illus. p. 23
illus. no. 19
41
19. Recuerdo de Grecia
oil on board
37 5/8 × 30 1/8 inches (95.5 × 76.5 cm)
1959
Note: In 1959, Gerzso traveled to Greece for two weeks and was much affected by the memories of this trip. Upon return he painted Recuerdo de Grecia, the first of 36 paintings that make
up his Greek period (1959-1961). In these works the artist introduced elements inspired by the
bright light and the hard, dry atmosphere of the Mediterranean landscape. These works are
more sensuous and contemplative than earlier ones and have a much softer palette than anything that Gerzso had produced before.
John Golding characterizes this period as marking an important transition in Gerzso’s work:
“….with the Greek experience of 1959 there enters into Gerzso’s work a new feeling
of universality, and the work of the Greek period like the first, Recuerdo de Grecia, and
Delos of the following year, 1960, are characterized by a feeling of openness and emotional generosity that is all their own. Subsequently when the pre-Columbian influences reassert themselves the folkloric and exotic elements have vanished. The
archeology is now more purely of the mind; the pictures no longer evoke memories
or associations with particular places or sites.”1
Fifteen of the Greek period works were purchased by the well-known collector Dr. Alvar Carrillo
Gil when they were exhibited in Antonio Souza’s gallery in 1960. Two other Greek period
works are included in this exhibition, Desnudo Rojo and Mythology, both of 1961.
Provenance:
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Golding, Mexico City
Sale: Christie’s, New York, Important Latin American Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture and Prints, May
17, 1993, lot 26
Exhibited:
Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, Twenty Years of Gunther Gerzso, Feb. 1970, cat. no. 14
Mexico City, Museo de Arte Moderno, INBA, Gunther Gerzso Pinturas y Dibujos, March-April
1970, cat. no. 13
Austin, University of Texas, Michener Galleries, Gunther Gerzso: Paintings and Graphics Reviewed,
April 4- May 23, 1976, illus. p. 29
Oaxaca, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Gunther Gerzso, Pintura, gráfica y dibujo, 1949-1993,
Aug.- Oct. 1993, cat. no. 17. This exhibition traveled to Mexico City, Museo de Arte Carrillo
Gil, Feb. -April, 1994
Literature:
no. 23
Traba, Marta. La Zona del Silencio, Col. Testimonios del Fondo, Mex; 1975, illus. p. 37
Golding, John and Octavio Paz. Gerzso. Neuchatel-Suisse, Edition du Griffon; 1983, illustrated
in color, no. 9
Eder, Rita. Gunther Gerzso; El Esplendor de la muralla. Mexico; 1994, illustrated in color, no. 19
Ashton, Dore. Gunther Gerzso. Published by Latin American Masters and Galería López Quiroga,
1995, illustrated in color, no. 3, p. 35
1Golding, John. Gerzso, Editons du Griffon, Neuchatel; 1983, p. 19
42
43
20. Desnudo rojo
signed and dated ’61; also dedicated on the reverse
oil and sand on canvas
23 7/8 × 36 3/8 inches (60.7 × 92.5 cm)
1961
Note: In Desnudo Rojo the body of a woman is mapped out with softened lines and edges on a
highly textured surface of pink and red planes, implying an erotic physical component in the
landscape. According to John Golding, Gerzso assimilated the lessons of cubism and surrealism
as a means of attaining “a pictorial space which would acknowledge the demands of twentieth
century pictorial formalism with its insistence on flatness….but which would also evoke spatial
sensations which could suggest or stand for both the hidden recesses of the human mind and
the cavities and more secret places of the human body.”1
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Aug.- Sept. 1963, cat. no. 66
Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, Twenty Years of Gunther Gerzso, Feb. 1970, illus. no. 25
Mexico City, Museo de Arte Moderno, INBA, Gunther Gerzso Pinturas y Dibujos, March- April
1970, cat. no. 20
April 4- May 23, 1976
Frankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle, Images of Mexico, The Contribution of Mexico to 20th Century Art, Dec.
5, 1987 - Feb. 28, 1988, cat. no. 68, illustrated in color, p. 332. This exhibition later traveled
to Vienna, Messepalast, May 17 - July 31, 1988 and Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art, Aug. 20 Oct. 30, 1988
Mexico City, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo, La Colección de Pintura Mexicana Jacques y
Gil, Feb. – April, 1994
Literature:
no. 32
in color, no. 15
1 Golding, John. Gerzso, Editions du Griffon, Neuchatel, Switzerland; 1983, p. 17
44
45
21. Mythology (Mitología)
signed and dated ’61; also signed, titled and dated ‘VIII. ’61’ on the reverse
oil on canvas
213/8 × 32 inches (54.3 × 81.3 cm)
1961
Note: In this painting Gerzso introduces ‘la grieta’ into his work. By the device of an illusionistic crack or crevice, the artist creates tension between the two forms and adds depth and nervous energy to the flat picture plane. Gerzso articulates the sexually charged aspects of his work
by the juxtaposition of active and passive, male and female elements, taking what first appears
to be an abstract arrangement of forms and colors, and turning it into a taut dialogue.
Provenance:
Private collection, Texas
Sale: Sotheby’s, New York, Latin American Art, Nov. 21-22, 1988, lot 64, illus. in color
Private collection, Los Angeles
Exhibited:
New York, Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, Gunther Gerzso: 80th Birthday Show, Sept.28 - Oct. 28,
1995, cat. no. 11, illustrated in color, p. 12. This exhibition traveled to Zurich, Galerie
Rahn, March- June 1996
46
47
22. Muro verde (Paisaje de Yucatán)
signed and dated ’61; also signed, titled, dated ‘VI. ’61’ and inscribed “Paisaje de Yucatán” on
the reverse
oil on masonite
15 1/8 × 20½ inches (38.6 × 52.1 cm)
1961
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Aug.- Sept. 1963, cat. no. 65, illustrated in color
São Paulo, VII Bienal de São Paulo, Gunther Gerzso, 1965, cat. no. 10, illustrated in color
April 4- May 23, 1976, illus. p. 47
Natasha Gelman, June- Oct. 1992, cat. no. 12, illustrated in color, p. 51
Aug.- Oct. 1993, cat. no. 15, illustrated in color, p. 16. This exhibition traveled to Mexico
City, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Feb.- April , 1994
Literature:
Rodríguez Prampolini, Ida. El Surrealismo y el Arte Fantástico de Mexico, UNAM; 1969, illustrated
in color pl. no. XVII
Cardoza y Aragón, Luis. Gunther Gerzso. Colección de Arte no. 22, Mexico, UNAM; 1972, illustrated in color, no. 6
Traba, Marta. La Zona del Silencio. Testimonios del Fondo, Mexico; 1975, illus. p. 31
Cardoza y Aragón, Luis, Tamayo, Mérida, Gerzso. Exhibition catalogue, Salon Nacional de Artes
Plásticas, Sección Annual de Invitados, INBA: March-May, 1978, illus. in catalogue, p. 32
Golding, John and Octavio Paz, Gerzso. Neuchatel-Suisse, Edition du Griffon; 1983, illustrated
in color, no. 12
Navarrete, Sylvia, Arte Mexicano, Colección Jacques y Natasha Gelman. Exhibition catalogue,
Fundacion Proa, Buenos Aires; 1999, illus. p. 46
48
49
23. Le temps mange la vie (El tiempo se come a la vida)
signed and dated ’61; also titled, signed and dated ‘X. ’61’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
17¾ × 25¼ inches (45.1 × 64.1 cm)
1961
Note: In a 1996 interview with Diana du Pont at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the artist
mentioned that the title of this work comes from the poem “L’Ennemi” from Charles
Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Mexico City, Museo de Arte Moderno, INBA, Gunther Gerzso. Pinturas y Dibujos, March - April
1970, cat. no. 21
Aug.- Oct. 1993, cat. no. 16, illustrated in color, p. 17. This exhibition traveled to Mexico
City, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Feb.- April, 1994
Literature:
Benedetti, Mario. “Péndulo: a poem illustrated by Gunther Gerzso,” in U, Revista de la
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Vol XXI, no.8, April 1967, pg. 8-10
illus. no. 34
in color, no. 16
Ashton, Dore. Gunther Gerzso. Published by Latin American Masters and Galeria López Quiroga,
50
Charles Baudelaire: L’Ennemi
The Enemy
Ma jeunesse ne fut qu’un ténébreux orage,
Traversé çà et là par de brillants soleils;
Le tonnerre et la pluie ont fait un tel ravage,
Qu’il reste en mon jardin bien peu de fruits vermeils.
My youth was one long, dismal storm, shot through
Now and again with flashing suns; the rain
And thunder stripped my orchard bare; too few,
Today, the ruddy fruits that still remain.
Voilà que j’ai touché l’automne des idées,
Et qu’il faut employer la pelle et les râteaux
Pour rassembler à neuf les terres inondées,
Où l’eau creuse des trous grands comme des tombeaux.
And so I reach the autumn of my mind:
With rake and shovel must I now set out
To right the sodden landscape, where I find
Deep, gaping holes, like graves, dug roundabout.
Et qui sait si les fleurs nouvelles que je rêve
Trouveront dans ce sol lavé comme une grève
Le mystique aliment qui ferait leur vigueur?
But who knows if this soil, like sea-washed shore,
Will feed the new-dreamt flowers of my art
The mystic food their vigor hungers for?
— O douleur ! ô douleur ! Le Temps mange la vie,
Et l’obscur Ennemi qui nous ronge le coeur
Du sang que nous perdons croît et se fortifie!
— Ah woe! Ah woe! Time eats life to the core,
And the dark Enemy who gnaws our heart
Gluts on our blood and prospers all the more.
Translation by Professor Norman R. Shapiro, reprinted with his kind permission from Charles
Baudelaire, Selected Poems from Les Fleurs du Mal, University of Chicago Press, 1998.
51
24. Southern Queen
signed and dated ’63; also signed, titled and dated ‘I. ’63’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
18 1/8 × 24 inches (46.0 × 61.0 cm)
1963
Provenance:
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Marcus, Dallas, Texas
Sale: Christie’s, New York, Latin American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, Nov. 26, 1985, lot
58, illustrated in color
Private collection, Morristown, New Jersey
Exhibited:
Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, Twenty Years of Gunther Gerzso, Feb. 1970, cat. no. 40
New York, Mary-Anne Martin/ Fine Art, Gunther Gerzso: 80th Birthday Show, Sept. 28 - Oct. 28,
1995, cat. no. 14, illustrated in color, p. 9. This exhibition traveled to Zurich, Galerie Rahn,
March - June 1996
Literature:
no. 41
52
53
25. Circe
signed and dated ’63; signed, titled and dated ‘VII. ’63’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
21½ × 32 inches (54.6 × 81.3 cm)
1963
Note: In Homer’s Odyssey, Circe was a powerful sorceress who lured sailors to her island—
called Aeaea—treating them to a great banquet and then transforming them into swine. Circe’s
creatures retained their human reason and when Odysseus’s crew landed on Aeaea they were
puzzled by the tame and gentle nature of the beasts they encountered. The sailors soon fell
under Circe’s spell but Odysseus rescued them by taking a potion that enabled him to resist
Circe’s charms. Although they lingered for more than a year, Circe eventually helped Odysseus
and his men find his way home.
In Circe, Gerzso expresses through non-figurative terms the perils nestled in the alluring landscape. Jagged edges and sharp protrusions suggest the treacherous passes through which the
protagonists must maneuver in order to escape from Circe’s ensnaring grasp.
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, Twenty Years of Gunther Gerzso, Feb. 1970, cat. 31, illus.
Mexico City, Museo de Arte Moderno, INBA, Gunther Gerzso Pinturas y Dibujos, March- April
1970, cat. no. 26
Mexico City, Salon Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Sección Anual de Invitados, Tamayo, Mérida,
Gerzso, March - May, 1978, cat. no. 4, illustrated in color, p. 33
Natasha Gelman, June-Oct. 1992, cat. no. 22, illustrated in color, p. 57
Gil, Feb. - April 1994
Literature:
no. 47
in color, no. 19
54
55
26. Convergencia
signed and dated ’63; also signed, titled and dated ‘VI. ’63’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
18 × 25 5/8 inches (45.7 × 65.0 cm)
1963
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Mexico City, Museo de Arte Moderno, INBA, Gunther Gerzso, Pinturas y Dibujos, March - April
1970, cat. no. 22
Literature:
no. 46
56
57
27. Ritual Place
signed and dated ’63; also signed, titled, dated ‘XII ’63’ and inscribed ‘4 version, Oct. 15, ’63,
XX XXI Gelman’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
23 5/8 × 36 inches (59.9 × 91.4 cm)
1963
Provenance:
Melvin Gelman, Washington D.C.
Exhibited:
New York, Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, Gunther Gerzso: A Retrospective, May 24- June 27, 1984,
no. 3
58
59
28. Arquetipo
signed and dated ’64; also signed, titled and dated ‘X. 64’ on the reverse
oil on canvas
18½ × 15 inches (47.0 × 38.1 cm)
1964
Provenance:
Exhibited:
60
61
29. Red Landscape
signed and dated ’64; also signed, titled, dated ‘III ’64’ and inscribed ‘Rojo y Blanco’ on the
reverse
oil on canvas
32 × 25 5/8 inches (81.3 × 65.0 cm)
1964
Provenance:
Melvin Gelman, Washington D.C.
Exhibited:
no. 4
Literature:
no. 56
62
63
30. Untitled (Sin titulo)
signed and dated ‘IV ’65’
graphite and colored pencils on paper
image: 14½ × 10 inches (36.8 × 25.4 cm)
paper: 15 × 10½ inches (38.1 × 26.7 cm)
1965
Provenance:
The Jefferson Vorzimer Revocable Living Trust
31. Paisaje verde
signed and dated ’65; also signed, titled and dated ‘X. ’65’ on the reverse
oil on canvas
32 × 21 3/8 inches (81.3 × 54.3 cm)
1965
Provenance:
Exhibited:
64
65
32. Verde y naranja
signed and dated II. ’65
watercolor and colored pencils on paper
12¾ × 15½ inches (32.4 × 39.4 cm)
1965
Provenance:
Exhibited:
Mexico City, Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporáneo, La Colección de Pintura Mexicana
Jacques y Natasha Gelman, June- Oct. 1992, cat. no. 29, illustrated in color, p. 65
Oaxaca, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Gunther Gerzso, Pintura, gráfica y dibujo, 19491993, Aug.- Oct. 1993, cat. no. 21. This exhibition traveled to Mexico City, Museo de
Arte Carrillo Gil. Feb.-April, 1994
66
33. Personaje muro verde
signed and dated ’65; also signed, titled and dated ‘IX. ’65’ on the
reverse
oil on masonite
21 3/8 × 10 3/8 inches (54.2 × 26.3 cm)
1965
Provenance:
Collection of Natasha and Jacques Gelman, Mexico City
Exhibited:
Mexico City, Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporáneo, La Colección de
Pintura Mexicana Jacques y Natasha Gelman, June- Oct. 1992, cat. no. 27,
illustrated in color, p. 63
67
34. Rojo-amarillo-verde
signed and dated ’66; also signed, titled and dated ‘IX. ’66’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
24 × 18 1/8 inches (61.0 × 46.0 cm)
1966
Provenance:
Exhibited:
San Francisco, Museum of Modern Art, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism from the
Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, April 18 - Sept. 8, 1996, illustrated in color, pl. 3. This
exhibition traveled to the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art as Mexican Modernism from the
Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, Oct. - Dec. 2, 1996
Literature:
no. 17
68
69
35. Landscape: Yellow-Blue (Paisaje: amarillo-azul)
signed and dated; also signed, titled and dated ‘X ’65 - II ’66’ on the reverse
oil on canvas
23½ × 28¾ inches (59.7 × 73.0 cm)
1966
Provenance:
70
71
36. Green-Blue-Yellow (Verde-azul-amarillo)
oil on masonite
19¼ × 13¼ inches (48.9 × 33.7 cm)
1968
Provenance:
Collection of Celia Ascher, New York
Exhibited:
Monterrey, Museo de Monterrey, Exposición Retrospectiva de Gunther Gerzso, Jan.- March 1981
no. 11
New York, Mary-Anne Martin/ Fine Art, Gunther Gerzso: 80th Birthday Show, Sept. 28 - Oct. 28,
1995, cat. no. 22, illustrated in color, p. 12. This exhibition traveled to Zurich, Galerie
Rahn, March - June 1996
Literature:
no. 87
in color, no. 29
72
73
37. Rojo-verde-azul
signed and dated 1968-88
oil on masonite
25 7/8 × 21½ inches (65.7 × 54.5 cm)
1968-88
Note: Gerzso often described his working method as a process of intuition. Although paintings
were worked out on paper in preliminary drawings done to scale, when he felt that a painting
just didn’t ‘click,’ he would relegate it to a corner in his studio maintained just for these ‘works
in progress.’ Often he would rework a single painting over a period of many years until he felt
that it was complete. Rojo-verde-azul was begun in 1968 and put aside. The artist made changes
in ’84 and ’88, meticulously recording on the drawing each session and every change that lead
to his eventual success. As the last work to be included in this exhibition Rojo-verde-azul provides
a bridge between Gerzso’s work of the 60’s to the tightly controlled, intensely colored and hardedged works of the final years.
Provenance:
Lent courtesy of Galería López-Quiroga
Exhibited:
Aug.- Oct. 1993, cat. no. 30, illustrated in color p. 21. This exhibition traveled to Mexico
City, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Feb.- April 1994
Literature:
Eder, Rita. Gunther Gerzso; El Esplendor de la muralla. Mexico; 1994, first version illustrated in
color, no. 101
Ashton, Dore. Gunther Gerzso. Published by Latin American Masters and Galeria López Quiroga,
74
75
Checklist of the Exhibition
1.
Self-Portrait (Autorretrato)
tempera on paper
217/8 × 18¼ inches (55.6 × 46.4 cm)
c.1937
2.
Four Bathers
signed and dated 1940 on the reverse
oil on canvas
19¾ × 24 inches (50.2 × 61.0 cm)
1940
3.
4.
Three Bathers
graphite on Bond paper
8 3/8 × 11 inches (21.3 × 27.9 cm)
1940
Nude Bathers
ink on paper
9½ × 12 5/8 inches (24.1 × 32.0 cm)
1940
5.
Male Bathers
ink on paper
9½ × 125/8 inches (24.1 × 32.0 cm)
1940
6.
Encuentro
oil on canvas
13¾ × 19 5/8 inches (34.8 × 49.7 cm)
1944
7.
La isla
oil on masonite
22 1/8 × 27¼ inches (56.1 × 69.2 cm)
1945
8.
Paricutín
signed and dated 1945
oil on board
27¼ × 38 7/8 inches (69.2 × 98.8 cm)
1945
9.
Mansión ancestral
signed; also signed, titled and dated Mayo ’49 on the
reverse
oil on masonite
13 3/8 × 19 1/8 inches (34.0 × 48.7 cm)
1949
10. Two Personages
carbon transfer with color wash on paper
10¼ × 16½ inches (26.0 × 41.9 cm)
1950
76
11. Fiesta
signed and dated ’50; also signed, titled and dated
’50 on the reverse
oil on masonite
18 × 15 inches (45.7 × 38.1 cm)
1950
12. Paisaje negro-amarillo-naranja-rojo
graphite, color pencils and crayon on paper
8 3/8 × 11½ inches (21.3 × 29.2 cm)
1954
13. Paisaje
oil on paper laid down on canvas
29 7/8 × 20 1/8 inches (76.0 × 51.0 cm)
1954
14. Ciudadela
signed; also signed, titled and dated ‘X. ’55’ on the
reverse
oil on masonite
30 1/8 × 21½ inches (76.7 × 54.6 cm)
1955
15. El volcán
oil on masonite
27½ × 20¼ inches (69.8 × 51.4 cm)
1955
16. Paisaje de San Ángel
signed and dated ’56; also titled on the reverse
oil on plywood
20½ × 29¾ inches (52.1 × 75.6 cm)
1956
17. Paisaje [Rojo]
signed and dated ’58; also signed and dated on the
reverse
oil on masonite
25 3/8 × 17¾ inches (64.5 × 45.2 cm)
1958
18. Paisaje [Azul]
signed and dated ’58; also signed and dated on the
reverse
oil on canvas
25¾ × 19 7/8 inches (65.5 × 50.5 cm)
1958
19. Recuerdo de Grecia
oil on board
37 5/8 × 30 1/8 inches (95.5 × 76.5 cm)
1959
20. Desnudo rojo
signed and dated ’61; also dedicated on the reverse
oil and sand on canvas
23 7/8 × 36 3/8 inches (60.7 × 92.5 cm)
1961
21. Mythology (Mitología)
signed and dated; also signed, titled and dated ‘VIII.
’61’ on the reverse
oil on canvas
21 3/8 × 32 inches (54.3 × 81.3 cm)
1961
22. Muro verde (Paisaje de Yucatán)
signed and dated ’61; also signed, titled, dated ‘VI.
’61’ and inscribed “Paisaje de Yucatán,” on the reverse
oil on masonite
15 1/8 × 20½ inches (38.6 × 52.1 cm)
1961
23. Le temps mange la vie
(El tiempo se come a la vida)
signed and dated ’61; also titled, signed and dated
‘X. ’61’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
17¾ × 25¼ inches (45.1 × 64.1 cm)
1961
24. Southern Queen
signed and dated ’63; also signed, titled, and dated ‘I.
’63’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
18 1/8 × 24 inches (46.0 × 61.0 cm)
1963
25. Circe
‘VII. ’63’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
21½ × 32 inches (54.6 × 81.3 cm)
1963
26. Convergencia
‘VI. ’63’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
18 × 25 5/8 inches (45.7 × 65.0 cm)
1963
27. Ritual Place
signed and dated ’63; also signed, titled, dated ‘XII
’63’ and inscribed ‘4 version, Oct. 15, ’63, XX XXI
Gelman’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
23 5/8 × 36 inches (59.9 × 91.4 cm)
1963
28. Arquetipo
oil on canvas
18 1/8 × 15 inches (46.0 × 38.0 cm)
1964
29. Red Landscape
signed and dated ’64; also signed, titled, dated III ’64
and inscribed ‘Rojo y Blanco’ on reverse
oil on canvas
32 × 25 5/8 inches (81.3 × 65.0 cm)
1964
30. Untitled (Sin titulo)
signed and dated ‘IV ’65’
graphite and colored pencils on paper
image: 14½ × 10 inches (36.8 × 25.4 cm)
paper: 15 × 10½ inches (38.1 × 26.7 cm)
1965
31. Paisaje verde
oil on canvas
32 × 21 3/8 inches (81.3 × 54.3 cm)
1965
32. Verde y naranja
signed and dated II. ’65
watercolor and colored pencils on paper
12¾ × 15½ inches (32.4 × 39.4 cm)
1965
33. Personaje muro verde
‘IX. ’65’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
21 3/8 × 10 3/8 inches (54.2 × 26.3 cm)
1965
34. Rojo-amarillo-verde
‘IX. ’66’ on the reverse
oil on masonite
24 × 18 1/8 inches (61.0 × 46.0 cm)
1966
35. Landscape: Yellow -Blue (Paisaje: amarillo - azul)
signed and dated; also signed, titled and dated ‘X
’65-II ’66’ on the reverse
oil on canvas
23½ × 28¾ inches (59.7 × 73.0 cm)
1966
36. Green-Blue-Yellow (Verde- azul-amarillo)
oil on masonite
19¼ × 13¼ inches (48.9 × 33.7 cm)
1968
37. Rojo-verde-azul
signed and dated 1968-88
oil on masonite
25 7/8 × 21½ inches (65.7 × 54.5 cm)
1968-88
77
One Man Shows
1950
1954
1956
1958
1960
1963
1965
1967
1970
1970
1976
1977
1980
1981
1982
1984
1984
1986
1990
1991
1994
1995
1995
1996
1996
2000
2000
78
Gunther Gerzso, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City
Gunther Gerzso, Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City
Gunther Gerzso, Galería Antonio Souza, Mexico City
Gunther Gerzso, Exposición Retrospectiva, Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno, Palacio de Bellas Artes,
INBA, Mexico City
Gunther Gerzso, VIII Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil
15 Obras de Gunther Gerzso, Instituto Cultural Mexicano Israeli, Mexico City
Twenty Years of Gunther Gerzso, Phoenix Art Museum (Friends of Mexican Art), Phoenix
Gunther Gerzso: Pinturas, Dibujos, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City
Gunther Gerzso: Paintings and Graphics Reviewed, Michener Galleries at Harry Ransom Center,
University of Texas, Austin
60 Obras del Gran Pintor Mexicano Gunther Gerzso, 1960-77, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City
Del Arbol Florido: Gunther Gerzso, 14 Serigrafias Originales, Galería Arvil, Mexico City
Exposición Retrospectiva de Gunther Gerzso, Museo de Monterrey, Monterrey
Retrospective of Gunther Gerzso, FIAC ’82, Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art and Galería de Arte
Mexicano, Grand Palais, Paris
Gerzso. La Centella Glacial, un Dialogo Plastico en la Ciudad de Mexico, Sala Ollin Yoliztli, Mexico City
Gunther Gerzso: A Retrospective, Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, New York
Gunther Gerzso, Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City
Gunther Gerzso, Esculturas, Oleos y Presentación de “Palabras Grabadas,” Galería de Arte Mexicano,
Mexico City
Gunther Gerzso, Sculptures, Wenger Gallery, Los Angeles
Gunther Gerzso, Pintura, gráfica y dibujo, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca, Oaxaca. This
exhibition traveled to Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City.
Gunther Gerzso: 80th Birthday Show, Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, New York. This exhibition traveled
to Galerie Rahn, Zurich, March 1966.
Gunther Gerzso: Prints and Sculpture, Americas Society, New York
Gunther Gerzso, Obra Reciente, Galería Ramón Lopez Quiroga, Mexico City
Gunther Gerzso, Hard-Edge Master, Latin American Masters, Beverly Hills
Gunther Gerzso Remembered (1915-2000), Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
Gunther Gerzso - In His Memory, Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, New York
Selected Bibliography
Aldrete-Haas, José Antonio. Gunther Gerzso, Conversaciones, Ediciones de Samarcanda, Mexico; 1996
Ashton, Dore. Gunther Gerzso, Published by Latin American Masters, California and Galería López Quiroga,
Mexico; 1995
Ashton, Dore. “La pintura de Gunther Gerzso,” in Vuelta 92, Julio 1984, p. 43-44; first published in
Gunther Gerzso: A Retrospective, Copyright © Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art, NY, 1984
Billeter, Erika, ed. Images of Mexico, The Contribution of Mexico to 20th Century Art, Exhibition catalogue,
Dallas Museum of Art, Aug. 20 -Oct. 30, 1988
Cardoza y Aragón, Luis. Gunther Gerzso. Col. de Arte no. 22, Mexico, UNAM; 1972
Cardoza y Aragón, Luis. Pintura Contemporánea de Mexico, Ed. ERA, Mexico; 1974, p. 45-49
Cardoza y Aragón, Luis. Tamayo, Mérida, Gerzso, exhibition catalogue, Salon Nacional de Artes Plásticas,
INBA: March-May, 1978, pg. 18 -59
Debroise, Olivier and Sylvia Navarrete. La Colección de Pintura Mexicana de Jacques y Natasha Gelman, exhibition catalogue, Centro Cultural Arte Contempóraneo, Mexico; June-Oct. 1992, pg. 27-33, 40-71.
Ebony, David. “The Secret Behind the Surface,” Art in America, April 1996, p. 102-105
Eder, Rita. Gunther Gerzso; El Esplendor de la muralla. Mexico; 1994, no. 25
Gerzso, Gunther. “Reflexiones,” Universidad de Mexico, no. 527, Dec. 1994, p. 31-38
Golding, John and Octavio Paz. Gerzso. Neuchatel-Suisse, Edition du Griffon; 1983
Jaguer, Edouard. Permanence du Regard Surrealiste, exh. cat., Lyon, June-Sept. 1981
Moyssén, Xavier. “Los Mayores: Merida, Gerzso, Goeritz,” in El Geometrismo Mexicano,” UNAM, Mexico:
1977, pg. 50-75
Monsiváis, Carlos. “Gunther Gerzso,” in Letras Libres, June 2000, no. 18, p. 82-87
Rodríguez Prampolini, Ida. El Surrealismo y el Arte Fantástico de México, UNAM; 1969, pg. 99-102
Traba, Marta. La Zona del Silencio, Ricardo Martínez, Gunther Gerzso, Luis García Guerrero. Testimonios del
fondo, Mexico; 1975, pg. 28-49
79
Copyright ©2000 Mary-Anne Martin/Fine Art
“Foreword” Copyright ©2000 Mary-Anne Martin
“Gunther Gerzso” by Wolfgang Paalen, 1950, reprinted by permission of Galería de Arte Mexicano
“A Conversation with Gunther Gerzso” Copyright ©1981 by Lotte Mendelsohn
Page 3 photograph of Gunther Gerzso at mam/fa Copyright ©1995 by Cutty McGill
Photograph of Gunther Gerzso on back cover Copyright ©1991 by Carol Patterson
Artwork photographed by Robert Lorenzson
Proofreading by Ruth Kelley Martin
Design and typesetting by artPRO Computer Systems
Printed by Christopher John/The Printworks, New York
email: [email protected]
Visit our website: http://www.mamfa.com
ISBN 1-930191-12-x
80
mary-anne martin|ﬁne art
23 East 73rd Street
New York, NY 10021
telephone: (212) 288-2213
fax: (212) 861-7656
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.mamfa.com
ISBN 1-930191-12-x

Gunther Gerzso, In His Memory

Transcription

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