Fantasy Figures: Surrealist Works on Paper from the Art Center’s Collection will debut several works new to the museum’s collection. Fantasy Figures: Surrealist Works on Paper from the Art Center’s Collection on October 1, 2021 in the John Brady Print Gallery. The exhibition closes March 20, 2022.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Anne McLuckie
Tel: 515.271.0320
E-mail: amcluckie@desmoinesartcenter.org
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DES MOINES, IA (October 2021) The Des Moines Art Center will open Fantasy Figures: Surrealist Works on Paper from the Art Center’s Collection on October 1, 2021 in the John Brady Print Gallery. The exhibition closes March 20, 2022.
Surrealism emerged as an important art movement in the early 20th-century, defined by chaotic and mysterious imagery inspired by dreams, fantasies, and the unconscious. Its dramatic visuals and subversive ideas influenced not only generations of artists, but writers, filmmakers, fashion designers, and video game animators as well. Surrealism’s focus on the limitless nature of the mind often led to experimental ways of presenting the human figure. Dating mainly from the 1930s to the 1960s, the works in this exhibition include many Surrealistic takes on the body. In the hands of these artists, faces expand and float, limbs twist and dance, and people turn into monsters, machines, animals, and enigmatic things in-between.
Artists in the exhibition include Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, Louise Bourgeois, and Dorothea Tanning, among many others. Works by René Magritte, Hedda Sterne, and Leonor Fini will be displayed for the first time. “In recent years the Art Center has been able to expand our collection of Surrealism, and I’m thrilled to introduce our audience to these new images,” says Laura Burkhalter, curatorial manager.
For further information and related programming, please contact Social Media Manager Anne McLuckie at 515.271.0320 or amcluckie@desmoinesartcenter.org.
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About the Des Moines Art Center + John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park
Recognized by international art critics as a world-class museum in the heart of the Midwest, the Des Moines Art Center, an AAM-accredited institution, has amassed an important collection of art from the 19th century to the present, with a major emphasis on contemporary art. Focused on quality and global in scope, it includes major works by Henry Ossawa Tanner, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, Francis Bacon, Andy Goldsworthy, Henri Matisse, Wangechi Mutu, Ai Wei Wei and Kara Walker, among hundreds of others. The collection is housed in three major buildings, each designed by a renowned architect—Eliel Saarinen, I. M. Pei and Richard Meier. With the exception of special events, admission to the museum is free.
In September 2009, the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park opened in Des Moines’ Western Gateway Park. Philanthropists John and Mary Pappajohn provided funding for and donated 31 sculptures by internationally acclaimed contemporary artists to the Des Moines Art Center. The collection of sculptures by such artists as Martin Puryear, Louise Bourgeois, Deborah Butterfield, Willem de Kooning, Mark di Suvero, Olafur Eliasson, Keith Haring, Robert Indiana, Ellsworth Kelly, Yayoi Kusama, Jaume Plensa, Richard Serra and Joel Shapiro is the most significant donation of artwork to the Art Center in a single gift in the museum’s history. The Pappajohn Sculpture Park is a collaboration of the Pappajohns, the City of Des Moines, the Des Moines Art Center and numerous corporate and private donors.
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