Accordion publications share many similarities with folding screens and this one by Tanguy (1900-1955) can be found in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Size: single panel 78.75" x 23.5", extended the combined length of the eight panels is 15' 8". Below is the information on the label accompanying the work.
Largely self-taught, Yves Tanguy joined the Surrealists in 1925 and quickly developed his own vocabulary of organic, amoebalike shapes that populate dreamlike settings. The Surrealists sought a revolution of everyday consciousness through the critique of reason and the promotion of fantasy and unconsciousness, and many tried to provoke surreal experiences in their works by interweaving the familiar and the unfamiliar. Little information exists about the circumstances of this screen's production, but Tanguy probably made it for a patron's home. Many Surrealists were interested in the decorative arts, and other domestic objects. In this whimsical example, the screen, while retaining its traditional function of closing off the private world, simultaneously opens dream and fantasy up to the public sphere.
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| © 2012 Estate of Yves Tanguy / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York |
