Neufert Paalen

Life and Work Vol. 2, Under The Vulcano: The DYN Project and Exile in Mexico 1939-1959
1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 978-3-7568-7341-8
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 2, 328 Seiten

Reihe: Paalen. Life and Work

Second volume of the biography on the Austrian-Mexican Surrealist Wolfgang Paalen (1905 Vienna - 1959 Taxco/Mexico) by Andreas Neufert. First English edition.

Andreas Neufert is a German art historian and curator

Autoren/Hrsg.

Neufert, Andreas

Leseproben

Eva Sulzer, Coyoacán 1939, SWP But what if the dictatorial element should prevail over liberal forms of government worldwide? How to counter the dangers for liberals, free thinkers, outsiders? Everything was played out in these days, world views disappeared in people's minds just as quickly as they had been formed, depending on the situation reports, comparisons were sought in the past, historical flowering periods of humanity were dreamily played out, for the arts were always at the forefront of existential fears. The Elizabethan era was one of the models, abolition of class society yes, but only if a special spiritual group was preserved in it, in which the essence of the human, love, human dignity, freedom and morality could develop unrestrictedly and exemplarily. The Middle Ages, here too there were valuable standards to be gained. Very bright: see Provence -, he reflects in his diary on the conversations of this time, invention of occidental love - all spiritually outstanding epochs must draw on this. In the Middle Ages, caste society. Later classes.123 Whether he shared such approaches with Diego Rivera is unclear, but not impossible. Under the impression of the real threat of possible world-dominating dictatorships, all possibilities were openly expressed, especially since the utopia from Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World of 1932 had been virtually surpassed by National Socialism from the right and Stalinism from the left. Here as there, the aim was to build a strictly hierarchical society of prosperity in which unrest, misery and disease were overcome by the unrestrained progress of science and guaranteed by a caste system with a kind of mystical universal religion under the sign of soma intoxication and joyful enthusiasm. Science had displaced ethics and freedom, art and humaneness had consequently disappeared from it. Suddenly such utopias seemed threateningly close, were experienced as horror scenarios of absolute emotional blindness, where secret alliance options were examined at one point, betting on a rapid disintegration of the Hitler regime and the unstoppable victory of Stalin. In view of the closing circle of pro-Soviet revolutionaries around him, European contemporary history can be turned upside down. Something of the Sagan youth fantasies, the commitment to Brahmanism, the grandeur with which universal geniuses were still granted protection from above in the old world comes through. Breton he wrote little of the thin ice of such thoughts and conversations. His short and to the point conclusion: Hitler will soon be over - not Diego's opinion - one has to get used to the idea of a war mill that never stops.124 In the same mail, Paalen tells his friend Breton about his argument with Julien Levy about Dalí in the run-up to his exhibition. He sees himself on the verge of throwing down my gloves when the latter accuses him of having delayed the planned Surrealism exhibition by his trip to Canada and wants the loans he had lent him for it (including the large painting Dalí's Moment sublime from 1938) back prematurely. Only in winter can such an exhibition be made here, since, as you doubtlessly know, he returns to Levy kindly and firmly, this is the Mexican tourist season. Incidentally, I had told you that I cannot return the works I have borrowed quickly, some galleries from Paris have given me important works for a whole year.125 Even with the Mexican artists he wanted to show in the exhibition, there were upsets, disagreements, alienations beforehand, and he speaks of a crisis of consciousness. One begins to whistle for war here. Charming customs. I regret not having left. But the crazy exuberance is missing. Even old Mexico, with its parks more reminiscent of Vienna than of the New World, limey front gardens and ring roads still lined with as many carriages as cars, seemed too cramped for him, and he was thrilled to have found a spacious old house with a patio, outbuildings and large barred windows in the southern suburb of San Angel that could accommodate them all. His neighbours were now Diego Rivera, Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Charlie Chaplin's wife and star actress of Modern Times, Paulette Goddard, and his address Los Cedros y Begonias, Villa Álvaro Obregón, for the neighbourhood, with its gardens and churches, had been renamed in memory of the Mexican president who was shot in the La Bombilla (the Piston) restaurant in San Angel during the revolutionary years. Free land already, he proudly comments to Breton about his new domicile, we even managed to distinguish the male from the female in the bizarre chirping of certain birds that seemed to us particularly typical of the rainy season - only to discover that the chirping noises of the night are emitted by gardeners decked out like bandits from the Opera-Comique. 126 The house's courtyard was so spacious that Alice and Eva could take in stray cats at whim, which were soon "swarming everywhere", as Edward Renouf recalled. A Little Paris was set up in the large living room, "a really charming place" with all the objects, pictures and curious things that had accumulated over time in Paris. Paalen seemed to him "somehow intimidated by Alice", whom he described as "biting, with a relentless flank". He would, however, have "deep respect for her taste and judgement." Alice was his extended sensorium, Eva, on the other hand, he described as "quiet, practical, the chauffeur; had good Swiss taste, looked very Swiss, not beautiful, a forceful face, sympathetic, homely. All of them were authentic, no acting."127 WP in the courtyard of his house in Los Cedros y Begonias, Villa Álvaro Obregón San Angel, 1940, SWP Finally, the studio spirits can unfold again, the colors, objects, smells and papers. I am currently trying to continue painting your portrait with great affection. I often think of Ives (Tanguy) and will write to him.128 The photos of the patio and the rooms in the adjoining wing already show the almost finished poster for the exhibition with a painted snake, small and large Paysages totémiques, a wooden doll and the Melanesian mask from Paris, and himself with his stray dog, as a Mexican fighting with his shadow. He now seems to have arrived and can finally act as host and cook himself. The dancer and ethnologist Miguel Covarrubias, with his wife Rosa himself the centre of Mexican society, arrives with his mainly female entourage, Dolores del Río, Nieves Orozco, Alfa Henestrosa, Columba Domínguez and Frida Kahlo, all "dressed in beautiful Mexican costumes", to compare his and Alice's unusual cooking skills with that of Rosa. People apply and want to be there when Surrealism makes its debut in Mexico. From dazzling and equally loud and long lunches, friendships develop with the "cream of the crop" (the best of the best) of Mexico, such as Roberto Montenegro, the Tamayos or Carlos Chávez, of which, however, the one with Covarrubias would bear the most fruit.129 WP´s studio in the house in Los Cedros y Begonias, Villa Álvaro Obregón San Angel, 1940, Fotos WP, SWP No sooner are the shipped paintings finally unpacked and the lists of works to be shown in the catalogue and exhibition drawn up than new difficulties arise. The works he brought with him from British Columbia are blocked at customs for an unforeseeable period of time, and he decides to include only a few works in the catalogue, including the Fronton de casa de espiritus (Ghost House Wall), in the hope that they will still be released in time. Since he lost the booklet with the titles of the loans that had been entrusted to him for Mexico in the turmoil of the emigration, hasty letters are sent before the editorial deadline, also to resolve ambiguities about the prices in time, whereby, due to the lack of photos, he sits down in front of the paintings himself to sign them off for better identification. He takes this opportunity to congratulate Seligmann on his courage for New York and now announces the exhibition opening for 17 January.130 Initially, Paalen wanted to show four pictures of Frida, including the large The Two Fridas, once with intact ("This is the I that was loved by Diego"), once with an open heart ("This is the I that was abandoned by Diego"), which she had just completed in New York and which represented a kind of paraphrase of her self-destructive attempts to find a foothold in herself: "both Fridas sit stock-still with expressionless faces, behind which all their pain is hidden". 131 Hopeful, Frida reports in December: "I will show four paintings in the Surrealist show that Paalen is organising at the Ines Amor gallery. I think little by little I will manage to solve my problems and make my way!!!"132 After hearing Diego's preferences and the idea of showing the Mexicans as their own section separate from the decidedly Surrealist, the newly divorced husband insisted on being allowed to appear with at least as many paintings as well as being a declared member of the Surrealists. "You cannot and will not be able to get an idea of what this country is. (...) It is the region of the absurd and of complete mendacity," Moro scolds after the opening, "You can't imagine the fuss Diego has made, like Frida he has also painted two huge canvases and wants the best places for them. (...) On the...