HowthecelebratedSurrealisttraversedthemanymovementsof20th-centuryartwithathrillingdisregardforcategoriesandconstraintsOverthecourseofherproteancareer,MeretOppenheimproducedwitty,unconventionalbodiesofworkthatdefyneatcategorizationsofmedium,styleandsubjectmatter.“Nobodywillgiveyoufreedom,“shestatedin1975,“youhavetotakeit.“Herfreewheeling,subversivelyhumorousapproachmodeledadynamicartisticpracticeinconstantflux,yetheldtogetherbythesingularityandforceofhercreativevision.PublishedinconjunctionwiththefirstevermajortransatlanticMeretOppenheimretrospective,andthefirstintheUnitedStatesinover25years,thispublicationsurveysworkfromtheradicallyopenSwissartist’sprecociousdebutin1930sParis,theperiodduringwhichhernotoriousfur-linedObjectinMoMA’scollectionwasmade,throughherpost-WorldWarIIartisticdevelopment,whichincludedengagementswithinternationalPop,NouveauR矇alismeandConceptualart,anduptoherdeathin1985.EssaysbycuratorsfromtheKunstmuseumBern,theMenilCollectionandtheMuseumofModernArtcriticallyexaminetheartist’swide-ranging,wildlyimaginativebodyofwork,andheractiveroleinshapingthenarrativeofherlifeandart,providingthecontextforhercreativeproductionpre-andpost-WorldWarII.MeretOppenheimwasbornin1913andlivedinGermanyandSwitzerlandduringherchildhood.Attheageof18,shemovedtoParistostudyart,andthereexhibitedalongsidemembersoftheSurrealistgroup.OppenheimreturnedtoSwitzerlandin1937,whereshetrainedasaconservatorattheBaselSchoolofDesign.Alreadyastoriedmemberofthepre-WorldWarIIavant-garde,inthelasttwoprolificdecadesofherlifeshewasembracedbyayoungergenerationofartistsforherconceptualapproachtoartandprogressiveviewsongender.Oppenheimdiedin1985.
