REMEDIOS VARO, Science Fictions

The ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
July 29 through November 27, 2023
Remedios Varo. DETAIL of El juglar (El malabarista) (The Juggler [The Magician]), 1956

Remedios Varo’s has long since entered the Hall of Fame of unrepeatable artists.
A cult artist among curators and collectors of surrealist works,
she now receives an outstanding tribute through an anthological exhibition
organized by the Art Institute of Chicago.

HIGHLIGHTS
The exhibition presents more than 60 works created
between 1955 and his death in 1983 that are
an astonishing display of his prodigious imagination.

Creation of the Birds
Remedios Varo. Creación de las aves (Creation of the Birds), 1957. Museo de Arte Moderno. INBAL/Secretaría de Cultura.
© 2023 Remedios Varo, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid. Photo by Rodrigo Chapa.

DETAIL of Creation of the Birds

Harmony
Remedios Varo. Armonía (Harmony), 1956. Collection Eduardo F. Costantini.
© 2023 Remedios Varo, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid.

DETAIL of Harmony

Star Catcher
Remedios Varo. Cazadora de astros (Star Catcher), 1956. Toledo Museum of Art, Purchased with funds
from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, by exchange, 2021.35.
© 2023 Remedios Varo, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid.
Photo by Rafael Doniz, courtesy Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco.

DETAIL of Star Catcher

The Juggler (The Magician)
Remedios Varo. El juglar (El malabarista) (The Juggler [The Magician]), 1956.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of Joan H. Tisch (by exchange), 2018. © 2023 Remedios Varo,
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid.

DETAIL of The Juggler

Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle
Remedios Varo. Bordando el manto terrestre (Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle), 1961. Private collection.
© 2023 Remedios Varo, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid.
Photo by Jamie M. Stukenberg, Stukenberg Photography.

Detail of Embroidering the Earth’s Mantle

Exploration of the Sources of the Orinoco River
Remedios Varo. Exploración de las fuentes del río Orinoco (Exploration of the Sources of the Orinoco River),
1959. Private collection. © 2023 Remedios Varo, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid.
Photo by Jamie M. Stukenberg, Stukenberg Photography.

Sympathy
Remedios Varo. Simpatía (Sympathy), 1955. Collection Eduardo F. Costantini.
© 2023 Remedios Varo, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid.

Detail of Sympathy

Taurus
Remedios Varo. Tauro (Taurus), 1962. Museo de Arte Moderno. INBAL/Secretaría de Cultura.
© 2023 Remedios Varo, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid. Photo by Rodrigo Chapa.

Detail of Taurus

Useless Science, or The Alchemist
Remedios Varo. Ciencia inútil, o El alquimista (Useless Science, or The Alchemist), 1955.
Museo de Arte Moderno. INBAL / Secretaría de Cultura. © 2023 Remedios Varo,
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid. Photo by Rodrigo Chapa.

The Escape
Remedios Varo. La huida (The Escape), 1961. Museo de Arte Moderno.
INBAL/Secretaría de Cultura. © 2023 Remedios Varo.

Detail of The Escape

Preparatory drawings
The Escape
Remedios Varo. La huida (The Escape),1961. Museo de Arte Moderno. INBAL/Secretaría de Cultura.
© 2023 Remedios Varo, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid. Photo by Rodrigo Chapa.

Exploration of the Sources of the Orinoco River
Remedios Varo. Exploración de las fuentes del río Orinoco (Exploration of the Sources of the Orinoco River),
1959. Museo de Arte Moderno. INBAL/Secretaría de Cultura. © 2023 Remedios Varo,
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VEGAP, Madrid. Photo by Rodrigo Chapa.

REMEDIOS VARO

Born in Spain, Varo (María de los Remedios Alicia y Rodriga Varo y Uranga) fled Europe in 1941 due to the growing dangers of World War II and emigrated permanently to Mexico City, where she worked amid a community of Mexican and European artists including Leonora Carrington, Gunter Gerzso, Kati and Jose Horna, Alice Rahon, and Wolfgang Paalen, who drew inspiration from the culture and geography of Mexico. It was here that Varo developed her unique practice of juxtaposing Surrealist chance-based techniques with imagery from disciplines as wide-ranging as astronomy, ecology, geographic exploration, feminist critique, magic, mysticism, psychology, and tarot.

CURATORS

Caitlin Haskell
the Art Institute’s Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art said
“Remedios Varo was a uniquely powerful artist, who brilliantly wove together two seemingly contradictory impulses of 20th-century painting”. “On one hand, Varo’s works are rich with passages of material abstraction, and on the other hand she used storytelling to remarkable ends, showing how the creative imagination could have social and political reach.

Tere Arcq
former Chief Curator of Museo de Arte Moderno said
“In Mexico, Varo has been revered as a cult figure since the 1950s, her allure stemming from the enigmatic nature of her work, both in terms of its subject matter and technique,”
“Varo delved into profound and arcane subjects such as alchemy, magic, and mysticism, blending ancient esoteric beliefs with modern scientific knowledge, the cosmic with the tangible human realm, and ancient wisdom with forward-thinking ideas. She became a visionary with a unique perspective: a spirituality led by the harmonic coexistence of human beings with one another, other living beings, and with the larger, interconnected universe.”

SPONSORS Major support for Remedios Varo: Science Fictions is provided by Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo, Angela Lustig and Dale Taylor, and Gary Metzner and Scott Johnson.

CATALOGUE

Authors:
Caitlin Haskell is Gary C. and Frances Comer Curator in Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Tere Arcq is an independent curator, art historian, and the former chief curator of the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City.
Contributions by Lara Balikci, Mary Broadway, Brenda J Caro Cocotle, Claire Howard, Alive Piliado Santana, Katrina Rush and Alex Zivkovic

Editor:‎ Art Institute of Chicago
Languaje: ‎ Inglés
Format: Hardcover
Illustrations: 144 color + 21 b-w illus., including 1 gatefold.
Pages:‎ 184
ISBN-10 : ‎ 0300273215
ISBN-13 : ‎ 978-0300273212
$40

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https://www.artic.edu/