Wolfgang Paalen: Philosopher of the Possible features a selection of works by one of the twentieth century’s most catalyzing Surrealist artists. In its second solo show for Paalen (Austrian, 1905-1959), Gallery Wendi Norris presents works dating from 1932 to 1954, including the artist’s largest sculpture and painting ever produced.

The exhibition has several centerpieces, works that have rarely been exhibited. Les Cosmogones(1944), the largest painting Paalen created measuring 96 x 93 inches (244 x 236 cm) reflects the intersection of art and ethnology. It was originally exhibited at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of this Century gallery in 1945 and later in Dynaton, an exhibition at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1951. Projét pour un monument (Project for a Monument) (1945), Paalen’s largest sculpture, standing at nearly 8 feet or 2.4 meters in height, was produced in Inverness in the studio he shared with his Dynaton colleague, artist Gordon Onslow Ford.

-Gallery Wendi Norris

Image: © Wolfgang Paalen
Les Cosmogones
1944
Oil on canvas
244 x 236 cm