Mysterious and Magical: Surrealist Art from the Collection

Byron Browne

United States, 1907-1961

Composition,

1952

Gouache on paper

26 x 20 ½ in.

-David Walls '21, Disciplinary Honors, Arts Administration

Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Museum purchase with funds from the Dillard Paper Company for the Dillard Collection, 1980.2794 Responding to the emergence of abstract expressionism in the United States during the 1950s, Byron Browne began rendering more gestural and painterly artworks, such as this collage-like arrangement of biomorphic shapes that suggests a still life. Contrary to his earlier, more representational works, these unpredictable positionings of abstract forms explore new aesthetic territories, but do not completely detach from Browne’s belief that abstraction originates in the physical world. By using both rigid and rounded shapes, painterly gestures, natural colors, and a composition that extends beyond the paper, Browne offers an expanded artistic perspective of American art.

Federico Castellon

United States, born Spain, 1914-1971

Spanish Landscape,

1938

Lithograph on paper

9 ¾ x 14 ⅞ in.

Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Unknown, 1950.1172

William Fett

United States, 1918-2006

Energetic Growth, Mexico,

1942

Watercolor on paper

13 ¾ x 20 ¼ in.

Courtesy of the artist

Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Gift of the artist in memory of Carmen Molina Vasquez Gomez, 1977.2430

Gregory Ivy

United States, 1904-1985

Public Hearing,

1948

Watercolor, gouache and graphite on wove paper

30 ¾ x 20 ¼ in.

Gift from the Estate of Naomi W. Ivy

Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Gift from the Estate of Naomi W. Ivy, 1989.4259

John Fudge

United States, 1940-1999

Night School in Ancient Egypt,

1973

Oil on canvas

44 x 37 in.

Gift of Mr. Hanford Yang

Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Gift of Mr. Hanford Yang, 1980.2800

Eugene Berman

United States, born Russia, 1899-1972

Destruction,

1941

Watercolor on paper

15 ½ x 11 11/16 in.

Museum purchase with funds from the Dillard Paper Company for the Dillard Collection

Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Museum purchase with funds from the Dillard Paper Company for the Dillard Collection, 1979.2641

Elisa D'Arrigo

United States, born 1953

Embody #1,

1992

Cloth, wire, acrylic, resin, and pigments

60 x 8 ½ x 8 ½ in.

Gift of Donald Rothfeld in memory of Harriet Weill Rothfeld

Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Gift of Donald Rothfeld in memory of Harriet Weill Rothfeld, 2011.14