Meret Oppenheim | Object

My guest this week is Janet Taylor, an artist and art teacher at the high school and college levels. Find her work and more about her at www.jatayolorart.com

In 1936, Meret Oppenheim was having lunch with friends when they began to joke about wrapping things in fur. She went back to her studio later and wrapped a cup, saucer, and spoon in fur thus creating what many consider to be the quintessential Surrealist sculpture, Object.

Meret Oppenheim was a highly talented artist. She moved to Paris at age 18, and she was almost immediately recognized for her brilliance. Artists like Hans Arp and Alberto Giacometti invited her to participate in group shows, Object was inspired by her lunch conversation with Pablo Picasso, and Object was purchased by MoMA. Unfortunately, Oppenheim also struggled with depression and stepped out of the limelight for some period. For over a decade, focused on art conservation work to pay the bills, but ironically destroyed much of the art that she was creating in her own studio. When she did return to exhibiting her work with renewed confidence, her brilliance was again recognized. Although she is largely associated with the Surrealist movement, she also tackled issues of gender in a lot of her work. As she accepted an award from the city of Basel, she said, “I think it is the duty of a woman to lead a life that expresses her disbelief in the validity of the taboos that have been imposed upon her kind for thousands of years. Nobody will give you freedom; you have to take it.”

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