Unica Zürn
1916-1970 (GERMANY)
BORN IN GERMANY IN 1916, UNICA ZÜRN WAS A VITAL FIGURE IN THE HISTORY OF SURREALISM. DEEPLY DISTURBED BY STORIES OF NAZI ATROCITIES IN THE 40S, SHE SUFFERED A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN AND WAS INSTITUTIONALISED. AFTER THE WAR ZÜRN WENT INTO EXILE IN PARIS, TOGETHER WITH THE SURREALIST ARTIST, HANS BELLMER, AT WHICH TIME SHE PRODUCED THE MAJORITY OF HER DELICATELY-RENDERED INK DRAWINGS. ZÜRN'S IMAGES OFTEN DEPICT CREATURES OF INDETERMINATE GENDER AND SPECIES, POISED AND GAZING DIRECTLY AT THE VIEWER. A SOLO EXHIBITION AT THE DRAWING CENTRE IN NEW YORK IN 2009 INSPIRED CRUCIAL REVISIONS OF ZÜRN‘S OEUVRE AND CHALLENGED REDUNDANT READINGS OF HER AS AN EXTENSION OF UBIQUITOUS FORMER PARTNER, HANS BELLMER. LAST YEAR, UNICA ZÜRN HAD HER FIRST SOLO MUSEUM SHOW AT THE MICHAEL CARLOS MUSEUM IN ATLANTA (2020).
This Strange Presence - Unica Zürn Etchings, Michael C. Carlos Museum (Atlanta) 2020
Milk, ÉDOUARD MONTASSUT (Paris) 2019/20
Here/Hereafter: Visionaries 2, MEM (Tokyo) 2019
Bonjour | Au Revoir Surréalisme: Prints from the Atelier of Georges Visat, LSU Museum of Art (Baton Rouge, LA) 2017/18
We are Completely Free - Women Artists and Surrealism, MUSEO PICASSO MÁLAGA (Spain) 2017/18
Sunlight arrives only at its proper hour, 356 MISSION (Los Angeles) 2017
World Made By Hand, Andrew Edlin Gallery (New York) 2016
La La La Human Steps, MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN BEUNINGEN (Rotterdam) 2015
Unsparing Quality, DIANE ROSENSTEIN FINE ART (Los Angeles) 2014
Witnessing Visions, UBU GALLERY (New York) 2013/14
Khamsa-izm, NINA JOHNSON (Miami) 2012
Hans Bellmer & Unica Zürn: Bound, UBU GALLERY (New York) 2012
Seeing Stars: Visionary Drawing from the Collection, THE MENIL COLLECTION (Houston) 2011/12
Dark Christmas, KOENIG & CLINTON (Brooklyn) 2011/12
Dark Spring, Drawing Center (New York) 2009
Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme, Galérie Beaux-Arts, (Paris) 1938
Esra Plumer, Unica Zurn: Art, Writing and Post-War Surrealism, I.B. Tauris, 2016
Das Haus der Krankheiten, 1986
Der Mann im Jasmin, 1971
Die Trompeten von Jericho, 1968
Dunkler Frühling, 1967
Unica Zürn, Hexentexte, 1954
Unica Zürn, Dunkler Frühling, 1967
